The Grub killer
by icegod030
Summary: in the aftermath of the battle with queen Myrrah Carmine finds himself with baird checking adam fenix's feild notes and tech only to find himself being somehow injected into a new reality that isnt his own...will he ever see his family or fellow gears again? what will shepard do with this blue giant of mass destruction pairings Clay/sam Cole/Kelly Baird/Tali Femshep/OC gear
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there guys ice god here with my very first fanfic…and before you even ask yeah this is mostly about Carmine will have some romance involved and even some knuckle bumping bromance LOL. Anyway to give you a bit of hint of what im doing Carmine is going to be bigger than many of the people in the mass effect univers because lets face it when you compare the two universes. For some reason Shepherd and the rest of the gang for some reason are so damn short when compared to the character modles of the gears but I chalk that up to the fact that everything carmine fought on sera would probably rape the krogan and other aliens in that universe, berserkers included. There will be no romance between carmine or female shepard however they will develop a sort of brother sister relationship…which would be kind of interesting to me anyway. I am looking forward to any feedback or opinions you all have and would like to know who you would like to see paired with carmine so long as it aint shepard. Also before you ask yes this fanfic was actually inspired by another one like it but apparently it either stopped or was cut short idk and don't really care. Either way I hope you like it and please enjoy. PS I may add in other gears be sure to let me know which ones you wanna see from the Delta team LOL**

Chapter 1: picking up the pieces

Opening up his eyes carmine looked around to see the remains of the burning helicopter laying ruins near him. Standing on his feet he checked himself over to see if there was any damage, none to be found with the exception of a few burns and scuff marks on his armor. Easily fixable, the seasoned Gear shook off the headache he felt from the impact landing he just endured and walked over to pick up his helmet. Dusting it off he noticed that the tower was firing off its massive rays; he wasn't around to hear what Marcus' father had said about the machine and he was only told it was highly important. He had provided cover to delta squad no problem…or at least until Myrrah shot him down with the enormous flying locust she was riding.

'God she was a bitch' carmine thought to himself as he looked out to sea and spotted several Ravens inbound to his location, Waving them over he looked around and began to help out any of the gears who happened to survive their unexpected and very flame induced crash landing. He wasn't surprised to see the pilot was dead unfortunate but he had seen plenty of death in the past but took the COG tags anyway to send back to the man's family. He was lucky when he found another gear slowly waking up, Carmine quickly checked him over. Minor burning and one fractured arm…the man was damned lucky he gave him that much.

Loading the injured gear into the raven Carmine hoped in, Carmine was always a big one and even some of his friends mentioned how the man was probably bigger than the thrashball super star Cole. Course in his opinion they were pretty even, only a lot less WOO from him then his thrashball counterpart. As the raven flew from the ground Carmine had finally realized after the adrenaline in his system stopped flowing that it was finally over, he looked over and spotted another raven picking up delta squad. Glad to see they all made it out alive he noticed the dead body of queen Myrrah, seeing her dead body actually brought a smile to his face

'Fuckin bitch' was all carmine thought as they flew away. Carmine looked around and began to think back on his life…looking at his right arm he once again looked at the helmets his brothers adorned on their heads when they had died. Carmine wasn't normally the sentimental type but when he had learned that his brothers died in the line of duty. The term bloodlust became an understatement for him. During his travels he was even more ruthless to the locust than ever before, even pinning some down and chocking the life out of them. He knew it would never bring his two little brothers back but for a time anyway it did help him sleep a little better at nights. Always wondering if his brothers were watching him from up above, keeping watch on his back…after finding out they had died Clay made it a point to become even stronger and tougher so he wouldn't let his brothers memory be in vain and to make sure his mother still had some sons to care about when it was all over.

As the raven touched down back at azure Clay walked amongst his fellow gears, who at this point were now jumping up and down and celebrating like giddy school girls at finally defeating queen Myrrah and her locust hoard and they even managed to wipe out the Lambent or Glowies as clay referred to them. Walking out into the clearing he found Delta squad along with Dizzy wallin who he was told held out on his own for a long time against waves of locust on his own. Carmine was very impressed and dubbed Dizzy a living badass in his books, of course that book had very few names on it. And for once in all his life as a gear Carmine took off his helmet no longer worried about sniper shots or incoming fire, it was nice to feel the sun on his skin.

He felt bad about Marcus and he was even sadder about Dom…from what Sam told him Dom died sacrificing his life to save Marcus and the others. Carmine shook his head and sighed, he liked Dom and respected the man as a fellow gear but Clay knew he was probably happy now to be reunited with his wife. However even Clay had to worry about Marcus, Anya gave him all the horrible details about Marcus' Father Adam Fenix. He didn't exactly understand why the man did what he did but he just brought about peace for the entire Planet of Sera so he wasn't about to complain. As far as Clay was concerned the man was a hero,

"Think he'll be okay?" Clay asked Baird.

"I don't know man…sigh I really don't know, but…Marcus is tough and hell with Anya watching his back I'm sure he'll be back to his old order barking self soon enough." Clay nodded

"Now what do we do? We've been fighting this damn war so long I think I've actually forgotten how to NOT hold a gun." Baird chuckled and agreed.

Cole was still talking to a few gears that still saw Cole as their Thrashball superstar who just helped take down the locust queen.

"I'm gonna go check on some of the equipment the doc left behind and see if I can salvage anything." Clay gave him a hard look "What? Hey come on as a fellow scientist and technical genius I think I wanna honor the good ol professor in my own way….by learning how all his toys worked." Clay shook his head and figured he'd tag along for the ride since he had nothing better to do.

As they entered the tower the machine that was giving off those strange beams Clay gave off a quick whistle. Whoever Adam Fenix might have been, the man knew how to make machines…Clay had never seen anything like this before not that he could understand any of it at all. Baird on the Other hand looked like he was in candy land looking at all the machinery and even began talking to himself about this and that. The man sure loved technical stuff, Clay preferred to just point and shoot.

"Hey Carmine give me a hand here would ya…I wanna check out some of this tech the professor was working on but it's umm."

"What?" Baird had was actually becoming increasingly embarrassed as he didn't seem to want to mutter the next part of his sentence.

"I….I need you…sigh I need to you lift this, I can't do it." This almost caused clay to roll over and laugh but he went with his better judgment and didn't. Walking over to what look like a giant box he proceeded to lift the metal object and move it. Baird went to work on looking over papers and discs as well as other things.

"Baird what is all this stuff?" Clay asked.

"I don't know but looks like Marcus' dad was looking at other options to the locust and lambent problem."

"Like what?" Baird almost didn't hear the question as he was too into whatever he was reading.

"Seems the professor actually wanted to make a portal." Now clay was officially confused, "A portal? A portal to where?"

"How should I know man I just started reading this stuff like oh I don't know 3 minutes ago….sigh muscle heads can never understand genius." Clay shook his head and decided to look around. Baird was too engulfed in his new findings and toys to pay attention to what clay was looking at.

Clay noticed a strange machine that looked like a pad to stand on, curiously he stood on the pad and looked around, 'what the heck was this supposed to do? Kinda looks like a way of communication maybe. Fuck I should studied more tech stuff back in the academy.' Clay thought to himself. Baird on the other hand began finding more play things to deal with as he read some notes Adam Fenix had left behind

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**Baird's POV**

"Alternate dimensions? Portals to other Realms?" Baird shook his head trying to understand all this, "Come on professor you couldn't have possibly thought these would work did you?...but I guess I can see how some of these theories work, course then again everything always sounds so easy in theory." Baird kept talking to himself when he noticed an component mentioned in the notes. Looking around he found the button in question.

"Let's see…quantum physics…atom acceleration. Professor you were one smart S.O.B." Baird deciding to see what would happen pressed the button as the lights flickered on he forgot the electricity still emitting from the particle generator. As one of the bolts hit the machine it fried many of the components however gave the machine enough power to activate. Baird looked around as the wiring came to life and the electricity flowed down several lines of cord and tubes until Baird realized exactly where they were headed.

"CARMINE LOOK OUT!"

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Carmines POV

Clay was in awe at many of the machines and tech that was scattered around the room. He brought his weapons with him much to Baird's disapproval, but if there were any remaining grubs Clay wanted to be ready to kill them and fast. The pad he was standing on was the most curious of the entire tech in the building. Large enough for a single person to step onto yet sturdy enough to hold someone as big as him with the added weight of his guns and ammo on it without crushing underneath him. He was actually glad it didn't break because he didn't exactly wanna hear Baird bitch about how he single handedly broke some very important tech. Carmine looked around more until he heard what sounded like a small explosion and turned his head just in time to hear Baird scream his name. Before he could move however the giant pad suddenly lit up and his body became extremely heavy, he couldn't move despite how much he struggled.

"Baird what's going on?...I can't move" Baird rushed over to try and pull carmine off the pad only to get repelled back by a strange barrier.

"Carmine no!" Carmine was virtually scared and he was hardly ever scared he felt like his body was on fire as he felt like he was being pulled apart. He let out a pain full scream and in a burst of light vanished right in front of Baird.

"Carmine! Carmine!" Baird quickly returned to the console and began pressing buttons to see if anything might help get carmine back but nothing was happening the entire systems were fried. Baird hung his head in defeat and punched the desk.

"Damn it." Was all he said knowing full well he just screwed up big time, and it cost him losing yet another carmine brother, he did not like how he let another carmine die and didn't do anything to stop it. "Fuck….no I'm not gonna let this stand, don't worry carmine Ill figure out a way to get you back here."

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**Alright end of chapter 1…honestly I don't know how big this thing will be because MS word differs from that of anyway please let me know what you think and if I should continue I actually kinda like where things are going with this and have big ideas involved with this story. Any and all reviews are welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well hello people I am back with another update to this story now im just gonna say this I will be updating this story a lot since I have nothing better to do when I get off work. Also I didn't read any of the gears of war comics so any of those refrences will not be in here same with any mass effect books that may be out there. This fan fic is based strictly on the games. Also Carmines weapons will be a lot stronger than shepards because carmines weapons were designed to penetrate extreamly thick armor and locust hide like the beserker's…so im pretty sure bullets designed to tear through tanks and brumaks can easily rip through a silly kinetic barrier and shields…so don't give me that "OH WHAT ABOUT THE BARRIERS?" im fully aware also carmine will be fighting a few krogan mostly the renegade ones from blood pack and what not…course that handy chainsaw will come in handy now wont it LOL. Also incase your woundering carmine wont be on every mission shepard goes on like the stupid artifact locating ones and what not. Hell probably stay on the Normandy and develop a realationship with an unspecified female character…haven't decided yet. I don't own gears of war or mass effect though if I did I would have ended mass effect differently LOL now on with the show! PS shepard and carmine will be meeting in this chapter but towards the end I think…**

Chapter 2: new location, same grub killer

On the streets of Omega crime, thugs, and gangs were a way of life here and Aria was the head of the whole place. However even in this place there are some things even she the great asari doesn't see coming. Deep in the reaches of Omega near a small clinic sparks began to fly as what looked like a portal ripped itself open in the streets, the Vorcha who were standing in the vicinity began backing up at the display of lights hissing but didn't draw their weapons out of curiosity. One was about to approach when suddenly out came a giant blue monster, as it lay sprawled on the floor the Vorcha stepped closer not knowing what it was…keeping their distance they assumed it might be an alien because of the helmet. And decided to wait to see if the plague that was in the district would kill it too, unfortunately their waiting would end up being their demise.

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Carmine's POV

The light was blinding thankfully he remembered to put his helmet on when he did, but he still couldn't move. He wasn't sure if he was dead though he was till fully aware and he didn't feel like death. Perhaps that's what it felt like to die until he looked up and noticed a black hole and began to wonder if this was finally the end until he saw in that whole what looked like a place. Before he could think about it he was suddenly on the floor with a massive thud. Opening his eyes he looked around and began to get on his knees looking back he noticed the portal close behind him and he shook his head. He vision was blurred and he had a massive headache.

"Ugh…what the fuck? What the hell just happened?" Standing on his feet he looked at his surroundings, everything was dark and the structures reminded him of the locust strong hold. His exploring ended when he heard the hissing behind him as he slowly began turning around that's when he spotted them….grubs, only they didn't look like the locust he knew they were skinny and had sharp teeth and spoke a language he couldn't understand not that he cared to listen. Their eyes were huge and their face was even uglier than a corpse, one of these freaks walked up to him and hissed out some strange words, for clay that was all he needed to hear and the last thing this abomination saw.

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Vorcha's POV

The Vorcha didn't know what to do or think as they saw this giant stand up right it easily dwarfed them in size alone. One of them decided to see if he was feeling the effects of the plague and walked over and sniffed and hissed, as soon as the giant turned around the vorcha instantly regretted it. The Giant cracked its knuckles grabbed the vorcha in front of him and preceded to snap his neck with a sickening pop. The other instantly drew their guns, however it didn't help them as soon as the giant saw that he rushed them. Breaking arms and limbs and even drawing a knife at one point to slice the throat of a nearby Vorcha.

The last remaining Vorcha was now visibly shaking and scared, his brothers had gone down so easily and this thing didn't even draw his guns. He looked up as the giant walked slowly towards him until he literally toward over the small vorcha, he was about to fire his gun when a single hand grabed the Vorcha by the throat picking him up off the ground as the vorcha struggled against the monster he felt the grip tightening up chocking him as he struggled for breath. Vision was getting blurring as his heart began to slow the last thing he saw before the light left his eyes was the pure utter rage in the giants blue tinted visor, 'pop' was that was heard as the giant snapped the vorcha's neck harshly to the side and tossed the now dead body on the ground.

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Normal POV

As Carmine looked around he had absolutely no idea where he was and was too confused to think about it. Deciding to check himself over for any damage he was thoroughly surprised to find he wasn't harmed in any way, he decided to check his weapons to see if they had any damage on them. The lancer was a little beaten up from the crash of his raven but it was still in good shape, the long shot suffered no damage, and his boltok revolver also sufferend no damage he had 4 grenades and he was damned lucky they didn't explode on the trip here…where here was. He even managed to bring along his torque bow though it only had 7 arrows attached, he'd have to use that one sparingly.

Looking around carmine noticed a human who was inside what appeared to be a clinic staring amazed at him, thinking he was a stranded carmine decided to talk to him and see if he was alright. He may not have gotten along with them in the past but he figured he'd try a little diplomacy here and make nice, not that he had to like it.

"Hey you alright?" the man seemed so small compared to him, to carmine this man might as well have been a midget…even the gears back home weren't this short.

"Are…are you a human?" carmine looked confused.

"Uhh…last time I checked yeah I was a human, you alright or are you suffering from rust lung?" the man looked confused, what was rust lung? Was that the name of this plague that was going around?

"Umm maybe I should take you to Mordin."

"Who's that?" Carmine asked shrugging his shoulders following the man.

"He's head of the clinic and is trying to help cure the plague that's going around." Carmine kept quiet and decided not to say anything further, he had to many questions in his head to really think about the so called plague. Rounding the corner to the clinic he noticed several other aliens, some had four eyes and looked humanish. This put carmine on edge but since he didn't know where he was and these things didn't have guns or seem to pay him any mind he felt it better to just let it go but he would keep an eye on them in case he needed to put them down.

"This is Mordin, he's our clinic's doctor." Carmine barley took his eyes off the other freaks when he noticed a salamander type grub standing in front of him, to say carmine jumped in surprise would be an understatement. He literally stepped back a bit in shock.

"This is Mordin solus the doctor in this clinic." The mordin person started talking rapidly fast but carmine couldn't understand a single thing this thing was saying. Carmine looked over to the man.

"umm whats this thing saying I don't speak alien buddy." The man looked shocked.

"you mean you can't…oh I see you must not have a translator. What about an Omni-tool it should have a translator built into it as well." Carmine just looked even more confused giving a faint shrug.

"What? You mean you don't have that either….wow you really must not be from around here huh. Did you just leave earth or something?"

"Earth? You mean sera right?" the man had never heard of sera before and this big muscle man really confused him.

"Doctor do we have any spar translators or Omni-tools around we can give him?" The doctor spoke again and then proceeded to walk over to carmine and hand him a small ear piece. Cautiously removing his helmet carmine placed the ear piece on as it formed like a gel around his ear he almost couldn't feel it, as he suddenly hear the doctor begin to speak normally.

"Can you hear me now?" Carmine nodded.

"Ah perfect was worried id have to kill you, though am glad you took care of those pesky Vorcha outside…they are problematic always coming around when trying to work on cure….now for Omni-tool." Mordin then walked over to carmine and handed him what looked like a rubber band with a chip on it.

"Normally Omni-tool chip installed under skin, however this temporary one until you can gain one for yourself…need to do a quick scan, see if you have any contaminants to be dealt with just a minor procedure."

Mordin spoke as Carmine put the band around his wrist and once again jumped when his arm was covered in an orange glowing light, at this Mordin actually chuckled as he began to scan carmine,

"hmm…interesting Male, late 20's height 8'2, human….no mutations or any signs of plague not surprised, plague only affecting others not humans or Vorcha. Curious as to size, possible growth spurt? No no too liable humans normally not so large. Testosterone output massive maybe?" Carmine stopped mordin before he became even more annoying.

"Whoa okay slow down there doc I don't know what you're doing but you mind explaining things to me…im a little lost here and kinda need an explanation." Mordin seemed to nod.

"I'm gonna go check for more survivors and see if I can help any of them." The man left quickly leaving the Mordin and Carmine alone in the room, to say things got awkward fast was wrong….a pin could have dropped and the sound would have been deafening. Mordin taking the initiative decided to speak first.

"Ah yes you have question will be happy to explain what you need, as a testament of good will towards you human. Happy to be of help anyway I can, will be trying to work on patient while answering questions." Carmine leaned against a wall and crossed his arms.

"Who was that guy that just left a while ago?" Carmine asked.

"Daniel my assistant good man a bit naive plenty of potential. Came to help with cure once outbreak of plague became problematic." Carmine was still unsure about trusting this guy but since he had so many question he figured whats the harm, his own curiosity getting the better of him.

"Okay so where am I?"

"Omega slums…hollowed out asteroid on edge of terminus systems." Terminus systems? Asteroid? This guy sounded too much like Baird, confusing and very high and mighty about being smart.

"Okay so im even more confused now, and going by what you just said I must be in space huh?" Carmine almost felt like he may as well have been dead, given how unreal this all sounded.

"Correct as I said earlier on edge of terminus system." Carmine sighed and put on his helmet again.

"Okay so doc can you tell me before I get even more on edge why humans even mix with aliens?"

"why ask human extreamist maybe? No cant be it…is it possible you've never seen an alien before?" Carmine shook his head no.

"well I've seen some ugly creatures that could be called alien I guess, they were just grubs to me…was with war with em for as long as I can remember so forgive me if Im not all that trusting to you aliens." This caught mordins attention.

"hmm…have not encountered aliens before not entirely xenophobic body type unlike normal human….possible theories all fascinating." Carmine once again threw his hands in the air to stop the doctor from rambling on.

"Look doc I don't know how I got here or where I am but you seem to be the only one who isn't trying to kill me so if you don't mind maybe we can SLOWLY work our way into this." Mordin nodded and returned to working on the patient in front of him.

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CLAYS POV

Clay honestly didn't know what to think anymore, was it possible that machine he was standing on sent him somewhere else he was unaware of? It was possible though he didn't see exactly how, could be a freak accident and maybe he really is dead. Clay shook his head that wasn't it…when he killed those Vorcha they felt real to the touch so they weren't an illusion and he sure as hell wasn't dead. Maybe he really did enter another reality or is in the twilight zone, He couldn't tell anymore. This Mordin was unlike anybody he had ever met but reminded him a lot like Baird only this one was a doctor and the Baird he knew was a technical genius…or at least that's what he kept telling everyone whenever Baird talked about himself.

Clay watched the doctor work for a few minutes before beginning to fiddle with the thing on his wrist called an Omni-tool, he didn't know what it would do but figured it was better than listening to Mordin talk to himself like an idiot. Fumbling around with the thing he noticed how it had several buttons and they weren't solid, more like a hologram really yet when he touched a button it would work. He began watching videos looking up things on the people in this world, although he still didn't wanna believe that he was in another relm. But given his options at the moment he didn't exactly have room to argue, He began reading files on human space flight…element zero among other things. Carmine was no thinker and was a 'act on instincts' kinda guy but he figured if he was gonna do anything here he'd need to read a lot about what was going on.

He was about to ask Mordin about some of the other races his Omni-tool mentioned when he looked up and noticed three people walk in, a woman kinda short with short blond hair and blue eyes. She was a looker he'd give her that much but the way she presented herself reminded way to much of Anya and he wasn't about to mess with her if it turned out he was in some alternate dimension and she was like her equivalent. Another woman stood next to her bald shaven head multiple tattoos and to carmines surprise was only wearing what looked like a belt for a bra. He shook his head at that one, the last one was something he assumed was another alien, he kinda looked like a big chicken to Clay.

"Damn are all aliens that scrawny?" He thought to himself the chicken as clay began to think of him looked at Clay with a strange look that looked like curiosity. He didn't wanna exactly get involved with these people until he heard Mordin speak.

"Also my assistant Daniel went into Vorcha territory to look for the ill….hasn't comeback." That caught his attention as he walked over to the group, they had to look up at the man.

"Hey doc…im gonna go with these guys, Daniel helped me out so I think ima return the favor. Besides I have more questions that need answering although at the moment I kinda need to think of em and Im getting a little bored standing here." Clay gave the group a solid nod to acknowledge them.

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Shepards POV

Things were certainly hectic today, first Garrus her long time friend and partner in crime just had his face blown off and now they were looking for a Mordin Solus. She didn't like how the illusive man always kept tabs on her or the fact he pretty much told her which people to get, but she needed Mordin if she was going to take down the collectors. She fought her way to his clinic having to take out a lot of Blue suns and Vorcha, not that she minded criminals were criminals after all. Finally reaching Mordins clinic Jack happened to mention how fucked up the people looked here. Garrus was fine so far and hopefully it would stay that way, Today didn't exactly start off on the right foot.

First there was freedoms progress and then the discovery of the collectors on freedoms progress, and finding out she was now working alongside Cerberus…it wasn't exactly comforting but she still had the council on her side and that had to matter for something. As she entered the Clinic Shepard noticed a rather tall and muscular man standing in the corner of Mordin's office.

A body guard perhaps? After what the sick batarian had told her it wasn't likely unless he was there for treatment as well. she noted the armor was unlike anything she had seen and even the helmet on his head was unlike anything she has ever seen. It almost looked like a gladiator helmet, the optics were blue and everything about the man screamed don't fuck with him.

"professor Mordin?" The salarian only glanced to his side for a brief moment.

"who are you not mercenaries armor doesn't fit with normal blue suns…perhaps here to cure plague no also impossible to many variables need to." Shepard cut him off before he could continue

"easy professor I'm commander shepard and im here because I need your help to take down the collectors." Mordin stopped working long enough and scanned garrus.

"Turian here this should help with plague wouldn't want you to become infected" Mordin said smiling.

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NORMAL POV 3 MINUTES LATER

As the group quickly made their way towards the environmental controls several eyes mostly shepard's and garrus' kept looking back at their 8 foot tall companion. Carmine had had enough of all their staring.

"Okay if you're gonna keep staring just ask your damn questions already…your makin me nervous." Shepard was the first to speak.

"So are you a merc are are with the alliance, cuz you sure as hell don't look like a blue sun to me."

"Honestly I have no fuckin clue whats going on, but I wanna help Daniel and the doctor cuz their the only guys on this station that didn't shoot at me…not like those Vorcha actually got to shoot me." Shepard was about to ask what he meant when they stumbled upon several Vorcha and a few Krogan walking around.

"Get down don't let em see you." Carmine wasn't taking orders especially not from a woman he didn't know, only Marcus had that privlage.

Walking out into the open Carmine drew his Lancer and readied the deadly weapon.

"Hey shit face!" One of the Vorcha looked his way only to have his face blown off by a small burst of lancer bullets his head exploding, as the others began firing at him Carmine ducked in cover briefly before beginning his assault on the Vorcha and few Krogan around. Shepard was almost in awe at the sheer destructive power of that rifle carmine was holding, as soon as many of the Vorcha were dead all that were left were two Krogan who were at this point very, very mad.

They began to charge at Carmine…Judging by the armor they were wearing he fired his rifle at the first Krogan in his legs where his armor was weakest successfully weakening that one. However without enough time reload the second Krogan managed to get close enough to knock the lancer from Carmines hands, thinking swiftly Carmine did the same hitting away the Krogans' shotgun.

"Get to the controls I've got this one!" Carmine yelled as he cracked his knuckles, soon the battle soon became an all out brawl, Garrus stayed behind incase Carmine needed back up as jack and shepard headed to the fans. The Krogan charged as Carmine dodged and began pounding away at the Krogan, the combatant not being one to be bested head butted carmine knocking him back temporarily as Carmine came back and threw all his force into his next punch knocking the heavy Krogan on his ass. Carmine's bloodlust soon kicked into high gear as he remembered all the times he killed locust grubs with his bare hands.

This time was no different as Carmine walked up to the downed Krogan and began pounding away at his head, with each punch the helmet denting and fracturing…still Carmine kept at it pouring all his rage into it until finally with one final blow he punched the head clean off. Standing up tall he heard the pain filled cries of the second Krogan, picking up his lancer he switched it to chainsaw mode and kicked the Krogan onto his back driving the barrel of the lancer into the gut. Garrus actually turned his head away at the carnage that was ensuing as Carmine gutted the Krogan who now lay on the floor dead with a very large hole in his gut. Carmine simply dusted off a few chunks of Krogan flesh from his armor as he walked over to garrus.

"Geeze….could you be any more brutal?" Carmine ignored the Turian as he looked up hearing the fans come back online.

"Come on your with me right? Let's go find Daniel…I'm not about to let that one go." Carmine moved as Garrus followed behind exerting all cautiousness towards his companion he was now traveling with.

Opening a door near the entrance they found Daniel who had a gun pointed at him by a very angry batarian.

"Please don't shoot I came to help cure the plague" Daniel said in a scared tone.

"Don't lie human we saw you with those viales in your bag we know your kind made this plague." One batarian noticed Carmine.

"Look out!" The batarian called out as he readied his shot gun.

"Stay back or this human gets it" Carmine wasn't really in a mood to talk, acting as quickly as he could he drew his boltok pistol and fired. The head of the Batarian in front of Daniel completely exploding leaving nothing but chunks, He killed the other two before they got a chance to even gasp.

"You okay Dan?" Carmine asked putting away his gun, Daniel wiping his head was in shock but managed to speak.

"y..yeah, I thought they were gonna kill me." With a relieved sigh.

"Not while I'm around." Carmine stated, at this point Garrus was now on edge, here was a human twice the size of Shepard and a human who beat down two Krogan and decapitated three batarians all in less than 45 minutes. Garrus now had questions, but beyond that he knew what shepard was bound to ask this behemoth when she found out what he did and decided he'd do it for her since she wasn't here.

"hey I have a question and I'm hoping you'll say yes." Carmine looked at him causing the Turian veteran to actually step back a bit, but he regained his composure fast and proceeded to ask.

"Would you be willing to join Commander Shepard and myself in stopping the Collectors?"

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**ALRIGHT GUYS NOW I KNOW THIS CHAPTER IS PROBABLY GONNA BE SHORT TOO, BUT FANFICTION IS DIFFERENT THAN MICROSOFT WORD….I SWEAR THIS LOOKS LONGER ON THAT PROGRAM THAN HERE….OH WELL ANYWAY PLEASE LEAVE ME ANY AND ALL REVIEWS…DEPENDING ON HOW QUICKLY I GET THE REVIEWS I MAY EVEN UPDATE AGAIN LATER TONIGHT OR TOMARROW BEFORE I GO TO WORK, AS ALL WAYS IM LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING YOUR OPINNIONS SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT PARRINGS YOU WOULD WANNA SEE IN THIS FIC…ALRIGHT ICEGOD OUT!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well guys like I promised I bring you chapter 3…astounding isn't it? That I can do multiple chapters in just one day? Well the reason for that is I was off from work today and kind of had nothing better to do so ill be uploading many chapters possibly two today and if I'm lucky…1 tomorrow before I go to work. Im not getting a lot of questions about the story so right now im assuming you all like it. Anyway ill keep updating and hopefully I can get more reviews. So keep on ready guys. I don't own gears of war or mass effect. **

**Chapter 3: collectors? Just a new grub to kill**

Carmine was extremely confused as to what this chicken head just asked him. This thing just asked him to join him and the blonde on some sort of mission? First things first getting back to Mordin and checking to see of Daniel made it, meeting back up with Shepard and Jack he headed back to Mordins clinic. Garrus pulled Shepard to the side and started speaking to her quietly as to not let Carmine hear.

"Shepard…I trust you didn't have much trouble getting to the fans?" Garrus asked trying to sound casual.

"A few Vorcha…turns out they were working for the Collectors." Garrus shook his head.

"I knew it…a Vorcha isn't capable of coming up with a plague like that." Garrus quickly got back to his point.

"Shepard I know I normally don't say this but I highly recommend we get this guy on the team." Shepard was a little confused, normally Garrus didn't make statements like that for a reason.

"Why Garrus?" Shepard asked a little unsure if this Giant man was just a show to intimidate others.

"Shepard you didn't see what I saw, you didn't see the carnage I saw….it sounds strange but he destroyed all the Vorcha that were in the room with us. Then he not only took out two Krogan but he did it with his bare hands." This spiked Shepard's interest.

"How's something like that possible Garrus…u sure you didn't just hit your head?" Shepard asked a little skeptical of Garruses assumption of Carmine.

"Shepard you aren't following me, he literally punched a Krogans head clean off, he just kept pounding away at him until he finally the head just smashed to bits. Like he has some kind of blood lust for Krogan, and then he did something with his rifle that ate away the second Krogan tearing a giant whole into the second one." Garrus said almost raising his voice loud enough for Carmine to hear.

"Easy Garrus I was just messin with ya…okay so you seem thoroughly convinced we need this guy for team, and I trust your judgement. I'll talk to carmine and see if he'll join us." Garrus nodded and kept on walking, as they entered the clinic Mordin was more than pleased.

"Ah thank you shepard am glad to see the cure is in the environmental system now can finally cure this plague." Shepard nodded.

"Thanks carmine for helping out back there…I was sure those batarians were going to kill me." Daniel said smiling up at carmine.

"Better them than you." Carmine stated coldly where as Mordin nodded his approval.

"Okay professor, now that the plague is dealt with, think you can join us?" Shepard asked remembering she needed the professor to help find a way to beat the Collectors.

"Of course shepard will leave clinic here with Daniel, am sure he can handle it…looking forward to working with you, will be on the ship when your ready to leave." Mordin said smiling.

"Go ahead and meet us there, Id like to have a few words with your friend Carmine here." Mordin nodded and left leaving Carmine and Shepard alone.

"So…your commander huh? What do you need?" Carmine asked not really in a talking mood, He still had too many questions that needed answering and still needed to find a way back home. If he was lucky maybe Baird was working on a way to get him home.

"I'm curious as to your name." Shepard asked looking over the heavy armor Carmine was wearing.

"Names Clay…Clayton Carmine, but everyone just calls me Carmine." Shepard nodded a little put off by Carmine's attitude.

"Okay Carmine, so your obviously not with the systems alliance but I sure as hell could use you on my ship…if you're interested of course." Carmine walked around for a minute looking at all the walls in Mordins Clinic, thinking it over and over he Honestly had no idea what this woman was planning…hell for all he knew she could be planning another war. He figured if he was going protect his friends or family back home he needed to keep an eye on this woman, to make sure she wasn't a locust sympathizer.

"Alright ill join you, but I wanna know exactly what it is you're fighting and why I should even trust you." Carmine gave her a hard look, looking for any signs of deception.

"Where going to hit the collectors, a race of aliens that have been kidnapping human colonies for reasons we don't know yet." Okay so this woman wasn't trying to start a war with other humans that much he was relieved to hear.

"Can you tell me about your weapons? They don't look like anything I've ever seen before and your armor is…unique as well. You don't even seem to have any barriers or shields." Carmine then realized that the weapons on her back were completely different to his; compared to his weapons they looked like plastic toys.

"Look if it's all the same to you can we talk about me once were on this ship of yours…I kind of have a lot on my mind right now." Shepard walked up and looked at carmine with a look almost as intimidating as Marcus' when he was extreamly pissed.

"Listen if you're going to be on my ship I need to know you're not just a giant mess for a soldier." Shepard said in almost a demanding tone.

"Geeze alright ease up will ya…look I'm a soldier that's all you need to know, and no I won't be bringing any baggage on board with me alright I'm a damned good fighter. Chicken head over there can vouch for that." Garrus coughed when Carmine referred to him as chicken head, Jack just laughed a bit getting the reference. Shepard nodded and motioned for Carmine to follow her, Jack caught up with Garrus.

"So is what you said true? That he really tore down those Krogan like a hot knife through butter?" Garrus actually shuddered at what he had witnessed, in all his years in the military and in c-sec and even when he was Archangel…never had he seen such carnage. Such brutality was almost unheard of, whatever training this guy had they certainly emphasized brutality as their main core.

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Normandy 3 minutes later

On board the ship everyone was surprised when they all saw Carmine enter; he looked like he was spawned from hell itself. A few of the guys were actually intimidated by the hulking mass of muscle that walked through the CIC while a few of the women actually blushed at the ruggedness that was Carmine. Stepping into the Normandy's communications room carmine saw there were two other people there, a small black man that reminded Carmine of Jaice back home, and a woman with shoulder length black hair and an outfit that, in Carmine's opinion was more provocative than intimidating. If this was the crew Carmine wasn't all that impressed, beside him stood professor Mordin.

Carmine stood against a wall crossing his arms and looking around the room, "Welcome aboard the Normandy professor…looking forward to working with you." Jacob said shaking Mordin's hand.

"A pleasure…things must be really problematic Cerberus not usually one to work with aliens, signs of Branching out maybe?" Shepard smiled and chuckled.

"We have a lab set up for you professor." A voice ran over the intercom.

"Interesting projected voice…standard VI? No can't be have to ask…is that an A.I.?"

"That's E.D.I. the ships A.I." Shepard confirmed, ' An AI? Man Baird would have a field day with that one.' Carmine thought to himself, until he was shaken out of his thoughts by Jacobs voice,

"And you? Who are you? Your name wasn't exactly mentioned on the illusive mans dossier." Carmine stood straight up after being acknowledged.

"Names Clayton Carmine…Private Clayton Carmine, not that there was much of a military left back where I came from." Miranda, Jacob and Shepard were all intrigued or rather just curious.

"Okay look you guys may not believe me, but your gonna have to take a giant leap of faith here and trust me. You can think about what I'm about to say to you later." Carmine then took a large breath of Air and began to explain.

"I ended up at Omega not by choice….I came there through some kinda portal that I don't know the details of, probably some alternate dimension or plain of exsistance. Hell I don't fuckin know…all I know is that I come from a planet called Sera I was fighting a bunch of grubs called Locust and then after that a bunch of Glowies or Lambent, toss in having to deal with some pissed off stranded who hated the C.O.G. then you have a recipe for a shit storm."

Carmine left out a lot of details they didn't need to know, he just basicly gave out the basics. He was actually surprised that they didn't flat out call him crazy but he was sure they were thinking it.

"That is one hell of a story Clay." Miranda commented.

"Thanks but call me Carmine…everyone else does I only let my family use my first name." Miranda nodded.

"So any idea where you wanna be Carmine?" Carmine thought about it then figured someplace that had a hum to it would work.

"Got anything available that kinda gives off the hum of an engine, back home I was used to hearing the sound of tanks and Ravens roll by it helps me sleep." Jacob nodded.

"The Cargo hold is like that its down on deck 4…just ask EDI she'll show you were to go." Carmine nodded and left only looking confused briefly before picking a direction to go in. Walking past Garrus who actually stepped to the side making room for Carmine.

"Garrus I assume your hear for a reason?" Shepard asked curious as to why he sought her out personally.

"It's about Carmine." Whatever Garrus had to say it had him spooked, aside from a reaper threat shepard didn't think there was much that could frighten Garrus. Using his Omni-tool garrus brought up footage he had recorded onto the the holo screen.

"I took this footage from our fight back at Omega, I didn't even have to do anything since Carmine pretty much did everything." All three looked at the screen and were stunned as it showed how easily Carmine killed so many vorcha, but what really shocked everyone was how he defeated the two Krogan. The images were so brutal you would assume it was from a movie…to be able to punch the head off a Krogan was almost unheard of for a human.

Jacob was actually curious about Carmine's rifle it looked so alien to him, and it had a chainsaw bayonet which was put to good use as Carmine gutted the downed Krogan on the floor mercilessly. As the recording ended Shepard gave a whistle.

"Damn garrus you weren't kidding…Carmine is going to be one heck of a force to be reckoned with when we attack the collectors." Miranda decided to voice her opinion to the commander.

"Shepard its true Carmine shows a lot of…potential as an ally but what really concerns me is what he said, about being from a different universe. A different planet I can accept but a different dimension seems almost too fantasy based." Miranda said resting her chin on her hand in thought.

"She's got a point shepard and even if it's true that he is from a different dimension who's to say he'll be committed to the cause?" Jacob had now decided to voice his opinion as well. Shepard leaned on the table.

"I'll talk to him see if I can gain his trust…if he's going to be on my team Ill need him to trust me. After all we are going to be asking him to go on a suicide run with us." The others agreed.

"Shepard I noticed on his chest plate the words grub killer see if you can ask him about that…for some reason those words really make me uncomfortable." Garrus told shepard before leaving getting a soft nod from her.

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Normandy CIC elevator

Carmine was trying to figure out how to summon the damn elevator when the yeoman came to his aid, "here you look like your having trouble there." She stated kindly as the clicked a few holo projected buttons and the elevator door opened up, Carmine looked down at her and thanked her accordingly.

"So you and the professor are the new additions to the team huh?" she asked as sweetly as she could,

"Yeah…I suppose so, shepard told me we were going after something called the collectors. All she told me was that they were kidnapping humans, I don't like it and if there as bad as." Carmine caught himself before he said locust and decided to change up his game a bit.

"If there as bad as the Vorcha or Krogan are then either way there just a bunch of grubs that I just need to shoot at and kill." She nodded agreeing.

"By the way I'm Kelly chambers…and you are?"

"Clayton Carmine…but just call me Carmine…I kind of prefer to keep my first name reserved for people I know very well." Carmine said trying not to offend this woman.

"Of course Carmine I understand." Carmine entered the elevator heading down towards the 4th floor, of course getting quickly annoyed at how slow the damned elevator was going. Once he reached the floor he looked at the words Cargo hold. This would be his quarters now…he still had no idea what adventure he was thrown into but he made a mental note that if he ever got back home to give Baird a massive Punch to the face.

"So gabby I hear we have a Giant soldier living on our deck now." Carmine turned his head hearing voices coming from the engineering bay.

"Yeah I heard about that…I think it's a Krogan right? There the only ones I can think of that are big like that." A female voice added to the male one.

"Nah they say he's a human…and that he killed two Krogan with his bare hands."

"What? That's insane…I don't buy it."

"It's true Garrus showed me the footage on his Omni-tool." Carmine remembered he had that thing on his arm, though he needed to learn how to use it 'Man Baird would really love to see all this…I bet he'd have a fucking Orgasm hearing all this nerd shit.' Carmine thought to himself as he kept listening.

"Well if he's that badass remind me not to piss him off."

"Same anyone that can kill a Krogan with his fists alone…I wouldn't wanna catch him on a bad day." The person in question finally entered the Engineering bay causing the two people to turn and look at him, one had a shocked look on his face the other heavily blushed.

"Wow your…a lot bigger in person." The man said feeling a little inadequate compared to Carmine's bigger form, "I'll say…the names Gabby and this is my Partner ken…nice to meet ya?" Gabby said smiling.

"Carmine." They seemed to lighten up a bit around him.

"So is it true?" Gabby began, "Is it true that was really you who killed the Krogan with your bare hands?" Carmine leaned against the wall folding his arms.

"Yeah still got the bloody knuckles to prove it too, and I didn't beat the other one."

"What?" ken responded almost shocked.

"Nah I gutted the other one with my Lancer." Carmine said in a rather bored tone.

"What's a lancer?" Gabby asked, Carmine took off the lancer from his back showing them his rifle. They noticed the chainsaw bayonet on it and realized that was what he meant; placing the lancer on his back again Carmine excused himself before chuckling a bit at what was said after.

"Dang it girl wipe your mouth…your drooling all over yourself." Ken said rather annoyed

"w..what I was not, I was in no way drooling."

"and you say I'm a dog, hehe you were panting like a horny lass looking at him."

"Oh shut up." Entering the Cargo Bay Carmine placed his things in a corner of the room as he sat down on a cot that was placed in the room for him. Removing his helmet he placed it beside him and looked at the ceiling.

"I wounder if Baird and the others are trying to figure out what happened to me…I hope ma and Devon are alright." Carmine looked at the tattoo on his arm giving a heavy sigh, 'Benjamin would have loved to see space and all this alien stuff.' Clay thought to himself as he remembered back when he was a kid how he would entertain Benjamin's fantasy of someday going into space and being an astronaut. Benjamin was Clays favorite Brother, being the youngest Clay felt like it was his job to look out for his baby brother, he began to remember how he would look up to clay and ask him questions about school or about things in general.

Anthony was no different he and Clay would wrestle a lot and it always ended with Clay winning, course Anthony was always enthusiastic about saying one day he'd become tougher than clay. His memories came crashing down when Colonel Hoffman handed him Anthony's COG tags, Clay felt terrible no doubt but he knew Anthony put up a good fight for a long while and he was proud of that. What hit Clay hardest though was when Marcus gave him Squirts COG tags and the letter he written that never got mailed. His baby brother was just barley a recruit and died in the line of duty, but he was proud when Marucs told him how he went down fighting even on his last breath. It was the reason he got the tattoo in the first place, the reason he got even stronger…he wasn't about to let their deaths be in vain.

He was going to win that war no matter the cost and he was going to do it with the memories of his fallen brothers fresh in his mind. Carmine didn't even notice the doors to his room open and shepard walking in.

"Hey Carmine…you think we could talk?"

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**OKAY END OF CHAPTER 3 I woulda did chapter four but it got late on me, anyway I hope you guys enjoy my newest chapter, at the end I kinda wanted to give a little hint at to what I think life in the carmine household woulda been like. I hope it came together well anyway yeah I know carmines a badass, but that's because to me Clayton Carmine was literally a badass. I've always been a fan of the carmine brothers…well ben carmine at least not so much Anthony since they didn't leave him in long enough for you to get attached to his character. Anyway next chapter Ima start figuring out who to pair carmine with and yes I haven't forgotten Delta squad…with the exception of marcus and anya I will probably be throwing Baird and Cole into the mix…cant have one without the other right? LOL anyway please review and let me know what you think thanks ICEGOD logging off.**


	4. Chapter 4

**ALRIGHT GUYS THIS WILL PROBABLY BE MY ONLY UPDATE TODAY**

**Thanks to drich147 for the advice on how to write this story, I'm not entirely used to writing like that but I will give a try and hopefully I can make the story a lot better that way. Baird will probably be mentioned in the chapter though I'm not entirely sure when, or if at all im still a little stuck on the Normandy bit LOL also since Carmine's armor is a lot tougher I may have the engineers' outfit him with a barrier system and maybe some other stuff so he will have a much shinier outfit but at the same time they'd be making an already deadly gear even deadlier**

**Well enough gabber outta me let's get this chapter over with….I don't own gears of war or mass effect**

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Chapter 4: Trust

Carmine wasn't exactly sure he wanted to talk to this Shepard woman, he reminded him too much of Anya but at the same time given how small she was compared to him. She also reminded him of the squirt; he quickly cut off his train of thought and leaned against the wall where his cot stood.

"Not really in much of a talking mood Shepard…I'm still kind of trying work things out in my head." Carmine had hoped that would deter the woman from speaking to him, but low and behold it didn't instead she sat on a box of supplies across from him.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily mister, look Carmine if were going to be working together I wanna know my crew. And your story back there left a lot to the imagination, I wanna know more about you Carmine." She leaned forward giving him a look that said she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, She again reminded him of the squirt and he didn't like that. He didn't want to be reminded of how he failed to keep his little brothers safe.

"Shepard unless you have something that can plug into my head and show you all my memories, I doubt anything I say will make any sense to you." He watched her visibly sigh and shake her head, apparently this wasn't the answer she wanted and he felt compelled to at least tell her something. "Alright Shepard, tell you what I can't tell you everything about my history but if you wanna know certain things about me…I suppose I can give you that much." He watched as she perked up a bit happy to know that she would be getting some kind of info out of him.

"Alright fair enough I suppose…first thing I wanna know since a good friend of mine asked me this question, What's with the words Grub killer on your chest plate." Shepard asked looking at carmine's chest plate looking over all the words painted onto it.

"Im guessing Chicken head wants to know huh?" Carmine hit the nail on the head but he was relieved when shepard laughed a bit getting the reference he put on Garrus. He shifted a little to get more comfortable on his cot. "The words Grub killer are meant to be there because anyone I kill is basicly just a grub, back where I came from we were fighting a war with these things called Locust. But we just preferred to call em Grubs because they were ugly as fuck." Carmine thought back to the entire Locust he had killed and smiled a bit, then realizing he had basically told her a little more about his home than he anticipated. Damn this woman could grow on you even felt himself lowering his guard around her, just like Benjamin.

"Do you hate aliens Carmine?...because I have a few of them on my crew and odds are we may pick up more. Can I trust you to not shoot them or kill them?" Shepard asked, apparently the thought of him attacking aliens on her ship was a sore not and she didn't want him doing anything like that to the people she cared for.

Carmine shook his head, "Don't worry commander, as long as they don't fuck with me, I'll play nice with em…I was taught to give people the benefit of the doubt. Ma would always tell me that when it really mattered it's wise to always keep a calm head and make nice, if even if you feel uncomfortable doing so."

Shepard could understand that, "Alright Carmine next thing I wanna know is…why are you so big? I've seen large aliens before and even some tall humans. But you…you take the cake when it comes to size." She felt agitated when Carmine laughed a bit and looked at how big his arms were.

"Well shepard I got this big for a reason, loss can do that to a person."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked a little confused but also with curiosity.

Carmine looked down as if in deep thought, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. "I lost two of my brothers in a war they shouldn't have had to fight. Im the eldest of a group of four brothers, the youngest Benjamin and second oldest Anthony, They died giving their lives for their country." Carmine paused to rub the bridge of his nose before beginning again. "My brother Anthony he was a good kid, he was in the military for a good while not a whole season but he did his best. A little too enthusiastic at times but he had a good head on his shoulders."

"How'd he die?" Shepard asked almost in a whisper sounding a little more caring than she thought.

"Sniper shot to the head, from what I was told…he stuck his head out a little too far from cover and took a bullet wound to the head." Carmine was a little agitated but otherwise showed he was keeping it together.

"What about Benjamin?" Shepard had a feeling that one would hurt the most, but something inside her told her she just had to know.

"Benjamin…was a good kid too, he was the baby of the group, Always looked up to me for all the answers like even when we were kids I was some kinda hero in his eyes. I remember when we were little he told me he wanted to be just like me, I would always mess his hair up and told him if he worked at it he could be as awesome as I was." Carmine almost couldn't shake Benjamin's happy smile out of his mind remembering his baby brother's face was hard on him. Better to deal with the demons now than later he guessed.

"You two were close?" Shepard asked resting her chin on her hands. Carmine at this point stood up and began pacing around the room; she knew that remembering his brothers must be tough on the man yet something told her to keep learning. Perhaps she was always like that, always helps when your someone people can count on to listen to their problems.

"Yeah…Ben and I always would play together when we were kids, he would have loved to be here now. It was always a dream of his to go into space one day, to see the stars. Course back then I thought he was just a kid wanting to live in a fantasy world…but now, I miss that innocence he had." Carmine passed around the room more.

"Squirt as I called him…Joined the military on his 21st birthday and so you can tell he was just rookie and green as grass when he left basic." Shepard nodded her understanding so he continued. "Well things were getting hectic and we were getting pushed back. Ben was stationed with Delta squad, one of the best around, they always got the job done and were all around a good bunch of guys." Carmine seemed reluctant to continue, but Shepard knew he had to get this off his chest if he was going to open up to her and gain his trust.

"Carmine…what happened to Benjamin?" She asked softly.

"He…he died be being eaten alive." Carmine became angry and was pacing around even more now. "He gave it his all as a rookie and more, fuck I mean he would even step out of cover to help his fellow gears rather than himself. He actually saved many lives not even caring about his own, he…all he wanted to do was help and show that he could be as amazing as me ya know. And now look where he is, dead…I joined Delta squad shortly after to finish the war but not until Marcus. Delta team's leader gave me his COG tags and the letter he written telling me how happy he was to finally be doing good and how proud he was going to make me." Carmine punched the wall denting it heavily as his tears began to flow but he quickly stopped them to keep some composure.

"My brother died when he fell out of the Raven he was in and into the mouth of a Giant worm…Course delta team wasn't far behind when the thing swallowed em hole." Being eaten alive caught shepards attention but she thought better than to ask at this point.

"Marcus told me that when they finally found Ben, he had been overrun with grubs and was trying to fight off the ones that were chewing on his body. Marcus even told me how a few of those grubs were dead around him, so he knew as well I did that my baby brother didn't go down without a fight." Carmine softly hit the wall this time, his head hung low.

"My brother…my brothers looked up to me to be there for him, they looked up to me to always be there for them to help them." Carmine reminded Shepard of Ashley…she had 3 Sisters back home and Ashley died defending a nuke, Shepard wondered how her family took the news when her thoughts were cut short by Carmine.

"But when I got their COG tags and that letter…I knew that no matter what I was going to get tougher. I was going to get stronger and faster and better, so that whenever I ran into another Grub I would be the last thing they ever see. I would go as far as to keep one alive after I killed his buddies just so I could strangle him to death with my own hands. I even got this tattoo on my arm with the Helmets my brothers wore into battle so that I would never forget why I was fighting, why I would keep fighting until every last grub that ever threatened humanity was dead."

Shepard went over and patted Carmine on the back smiling up at him, "Hey I understand your need to protect Humanity, but you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened to your brothers." Shepard said comforting Carmine.

"I don't Shepard…I don't blame myself for what happened to them, I blame myself for not being there for them when they needed me most." Shepard nodded; this wasn't what she was expecting. Here was this giant man capable of destroying a fully grown Krogan with his bare hands but at the same time was a man who had a heart of gold and cared deeply about his family.

"Carmine I know you want to do everything to honor your family and fallen brothers, and even protect humanity. The collectors are doing that now…they are kidnapping families just like yours, humans who didn't do anything to deserve this. Carmine I need your help if Im going to stop them." Shepard asked confident she would get the answer she wanted.

"Commander, I still have no idea where I am or how I got here…but if there's one thing I've learned from my years spend in the military is that if something is screwing with humanity you go out there and kill it…Alright commander, I'll help you kill these grubs. I'm not about to let any other family suffer like mine did." Shepard smiled.

"Glad to hear it carmine…I look forward to working with you." Shepard said shaking carmines hand, although in his hand her hand might as well have been baby sized.

As shepard began walking out the door back to her quarters she was stopped by Carmine, "Hey squirt…Thanks for the pep talk." Shepard actually didn't mind being called squirt, she didn't even find it offensive…she just smiled and nodded.

"Oh, and before I forget Carmine…stop by the armory. Maybe Jacob can help make some ammunition for those power weapons you have." Shepard stated then left.

Carmine sat down on his cot and looked at the wall at a picture of him and his brothers he posted on that wall, "Don't worry guys…whatever mess I've gotten myself into. I hope your both up there watching my back."

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Normandy CIC 4 minutes later

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Shepard had walked onto the deck to check and see if she had any messages when Kelly stopped to talk to her, Shepard was actually curious what the others thought of their new Giant team mate.

"That Carmine is something else commander." Kelly stated rather bluntly

"How so kelly?" Shepard asked, now her curiosity was peeked.

"Well…he carries himself with in such a distinct way that even looking at him can be intimidating, and his body looks almost like it was carved out of stone to be used strictly for battle. But it's his eyes that fascinate me the most." Shepard wasn't surprised at this, the yeoman had always been a people person so being able to figure someone out shouldn't have been hard for her.

"What exactly do you mean Kelly?" Shepard asked.

"Well when he first walked on board his eyes showed confusion at first, probably because he had never seen a ship like the Normandy before…but I also noticed pure and un-adulterated rage behind his eyes. But when I went to speak with him his entire body began to soften a bit, and his eyes gave off a kind of kindness to them I didn't quite expect in a man as large as him."

"Well from my talk with Carmine he certainly is the caring type…you sure its not his giant muscles that you find so fascinating miss Chambers?" Shepard asked teasingly getting a faint blush from the woman.

"N...no not at all mam, I was just saying how he has a good heart and body." It was too late to take back what she just said as shepard chuckled again.

"So you WERE checking him out huh?...yeah you and every other woman on this deck, I heard even gabby was giving him a look over." Shepard threw that in just to mess with the girl but noticed her head snapped back in shock as if someone else was moving in on her prey.

"HAHA easy Kelly I'm only joking with you." Shepard said before leaving the now blushing chambers to her thoughts heading below to deck 3 to see how the others were taking in Carmine.

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Deck 3 crew quarters

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Shepard walked around the crew waving and smiling when necessary when she walked into the main battery gun room. Garrus was furiously at work on the guns calibrating and calibrating, but Shepard knew why. For some reason having Carmine on board really made the Turrain extreamly uncomfortable. He finally turned to acknowledge the fact Shepard just walked in.

"Shepard can I help you with something?" Garrus asked trying to hide the concern in his voice.

"I just got done talking to Carmine Garrus, I got an answer to your question about the words painted onto his chest plate." Garrus shifted uncomfortably as he waited for the answer.

"He told me he would kill all would threaten Humanity and refers to them as Grubs, so unless the turians make an all out war against humans then I don't think you have much to worry about." Shepard reassured Garrus who seemed to relax a little more.

"Well as long as he's here to fight the collectors I can relax, not entirely sure I'd ever fight him in a hand to hand combat. I'm even starting to worry if my sniper shots would even hurt him or just piss him off." Garrus said trying to make a joke, though this particular joke seemed more possible than funny. Shepard smiled a bit thinking about how thick the armor Carmine wore was.

"Well Garrus think you could work alongside him in case I bring you and him along on our next mission out?" Shepard asked

Garrus thought for a moment as if contemplating the whole idea before looking up at Shepard again and smiling, or at least what could be called smiling for a turian.

"Of course shepard…as long as Im not the one on the other end of his gun's barrel or his fists I can work with him just fine." Garrus said getting a nod from shepard as she exited the room.

Shepard decided to avoid discussing Carmine with Miranda knowing full well what her intentions were about the man, she would turn him over to the illusive man and then he would be subjugated to whatever brain washing the man could think of. She wasn't about to let that happen, Shepard felt a connection to carmine. She didn't love him like she had Kaiden it want that, she felt like…he was the family she never knew. She was actually surprised she didn't even get angry when he called her squirt, she even found herself smiling when he that. Somehow she was almost expecting him to ruffle her hair afterwards. She quickly shook off her thoughts and go prepare for their next mission.

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**ALRIGHT GUYS END OF CHAPTER 4 AGAIN HOPEFULLY THIS CHAPTER TURNED OUT BETTER AND I WILL BE UPLOADING CHAPTER 5 AFTER WORK TONIGHT SO LOOK FORWARD TO IT…LET ME KNOW HOW IM DOING AND REMEMBER THIS IS MY FIRST FANFIC SO IF YOU HAVE ANY OPINIONS OR IDEAS LET ME KNOW SINCE WELL I COULD PROBABLY USE EM. Anyway leave reviews and see you all later **

**Ice god out**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again guys, I keep getting emails saying I have more people who are following my story and it's a real inspiration to keep writing…now in case your wondering I started with Mass effect 2 to throw the gears into because honestly…mass effect 1 wasn't really a game I could remember very well and mass effect 1 had better characters in my opinion. Still don't know who I should pair up into couples. Also Shepard is paragon shepard since I can never bring myself to do anything renegade in the games. However she will learn from carmine how to execute enemies…and how fun would that be to watch shepard gut an enemy? HAHAHAH im so evil, the collectors wont know what hit em lol anyway on with the show also I don't own mass effect or gears of war**

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Chapter 5: A prefect Krogan over the Horizon

Shepard had been looking over the data about this warlord O'keer. And she didn't exactly know what this Krogan would bring to her team but she figured it had to be good since the illusive man passed his info along to her. Although she wasn't one to believe anything that man ever said, Thinking about which team mates she would bring with her she remembered how Garrus had been really fidgety around Carmine. Well now was as any good a time as any to work things out between those two, better to have them work together than to potentially hate each other.

"Joker get Carmine and Garrus up to the briefing room." She said as she grabbed her gear and began to get ready. She needed these two to work together, Garrus had been a long time friend and she respected the man's sniping skills but Carmine was a raging power house possibly more deadly than a Krogan. Aside from wanting to see the man's skills in action she wanted to clear any bad blood in the air so that maybe they could get along. She wasn't about to let a fight break out between those two, not that she was exactly very confident she could stop Carmine, she even played with the thought of needing Jack to subdue him if necessary.

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Normandy briefing room 4 minutes later

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As shepard stepped into the room to brief her team mates about what they were about to do, she noticed that Carmine just like he said was making nice with Garrus. The turian on the other hand was still very iffy about the man; it was rare for Garrus to be this cautious about anyone let alone another human. But then again she didn't see what he saw.

"Alright were going to go down to the planet to retrieve Warlord O'keer, Im not entirely sure what well find down there but im bringing you two along with me. Garrus is going to be our sniper and he's got a hell of an aim, Carmine your going to be with me doing close quarters fighting." Garrus was the first to voice his opinion.

"Commander with all due respect wouldn't bringing Carmine along be simply over-kill?" Shepard simply smiled.

"That's the point garrus…if we're going to go get a Krogan who's to say he won't have body guards. And from what I gather Krogan don't exactly get along with Turians, I'm bringing for not only help but also in case a Krogan gets the wrong idea and tries to kill you." Garrus seemed to think about it a bit while Carmine simply chuckled.

"Whats the matter Garrus? Afraid ima show you up?" Carmine mocked his brown eye showing a bit of humor in them as he grinned mockingly at Garrus who flaird out his mandibles as a response.

"You? Show me up? Ha…I bet ill be running circles around you in less than two minutes flat." Garrus said challenging the giant man.

"Alright it's a deal then, once we get the Krogan guy well meet up and compare kills. But where I come from im pretty well known to have a high kill count." Carmine chuckled back.

Well it wasn't exactly what she wanted, but she figured it was better than nothing and at least they weren't at each other's throats. She dismissed the group as they headed for the shuttle bay, Carmine had to duck a tiny bit since she was sure this thing wasn't exactly used to having something that tall in it. As they arrived at the planet Shepard noted how the whole place looked like a ship grave yard.

As they landed they jumped out softly onto the ground, well she and Garrus landed softly. Carmine sounded like a bowling ball hitting the ground, he shook his head and she chuckled a bit as they moved forward before a voice came over a loud speaker.

"There is only one measure of success. Kill or be killed!"

"A loud speaker?...heh someone must love the sound of their voice." Garrus commented

"Sound like a doofus if you ask me…who does that anymore?" Carmine said annoyed as he was reminded of the Chairman and how he would speak to them over the intercoms in the bases all the time. God the man had an annoying voice and this woman's voice was no better, worse though he didn't think it was possible.

"Stay focused, were looking for a Krogan warlord." Shepard commanded drawing her gun, as Carmine and Garrus followed her. The ship yard was massive, even Carmine couldn't imagine how big this place would be…the Ships laying on the ground in shambles actually made him feel…Small, but he couldn't let that distract him now, he had a job to do and he was there to do it.

"BEING HIRED IS MERLEY THE BEGINNING! YOU MUST EARN YOUR PLACE IN THE MIGHTY ARMY WE ARE BUILDING!" Again the loud speakers rang out, that voice was becoming really annoying. Carmine didn't exactly like hearing people talk like that; he knew full well that when all someone did was shout orders at you. It means that the person who was doing the shouting sucked in an actual firefight.

"Observation post…and ready for a fight by the looks of it." Garrus said, thought only two seconds after he made the comment that the blue sons began firing at them. The group was literally under siege, Shepard couldn't even stick her head out for five seconds before gun fire forced her to duck back into cover. Carmine on the other hand had had enough, they needed to get to the objective and standing here wasting time wasn't helping. Stepping out into the clearing the men actually stopped firing and just stared, Carmine with his Lancer drawn stared them down until one merc finally asked.

"What the fuck is up with this guy?"

Carmine immediately opened fired tearing apart the mercs in his way, and the ones who had barriers went down a few second after. Shepard was impressed, Carmine's bullets almost seemed to ignore the kinectic barriers the marcs had and even the shielding didn't stop them. Now she knew why garrus was so worried about Carmine, if he ever turned on them she doubted there would be much that could stop him.

As the group moved up Shepard noticed a blue sons merc on the ground, he suffered a bullet wound from Carmines rifle. But it looked like it just grazed him.

"Ah shit, it wont stop bleeding…damn it..im gonna….shit…" the man said looking like he had suffered having his leg blown off.

"Cry baby, its not even that bad." Carmine said commenting on how pathetic the man looked

"He doesn't need to know that." Shepard added.

The man looked over at them still holding his side, "I knew it wasn't beserkers…not at range. Your mercs, or alliance. Im not…im not telling you anything." The man said in an angry tone.

"I've got a nice application of medi-gel ready to go, but if you rather I just keep walking." Shepard said her omni-tool at the ready.

"Son of a bitch…I just…I don't know anything; I just shoot the overflow from the labs. The old Krogan up there…he's really been cleaning house lately. Jedorah hired him to make her an army, but the Krogan he creates are insane. We use em for live ammo training, it's all crap. I don't get paid enough to god damn bleed out." The man said still holding his side in pain as a voice over his ear piece rang out.

"Outpost 4…jedor wants us to move, we need coordinates on that Krogan pack." Shepard decided she needed a much clearer path and less mercs to deal with the better. She leaned in close to the man.

"I want your friends gone….understand?"

"Uh, patrol…the last group dispersed, lost sight five minutes ago."

"Dispersed?...jedorha will be pissed, she wanted a show."

"You asked for a report you got it dispersed."

"Understood, returning to the labs."

"There you see…im helping." Shepard smiled at the man, even if his eyes were blood shot she was a beauty, a hard ass but a beauty non-the less.

"If you start limping now you might find shady spot before you bleed out." Shepard said with an evil grin.

The man cursed a few words as he limped off, Carmine actually laughed a bit at how these people treated flesh wounds. Back home if they had suffered what he knew a flesh wound was they would have been dead.

"Nice squirt…I think he damned near pissed himself." Carmine chuckled

"Thanks I thought it was funny too….Come on our warlord is somewhere in jedorhas base." As they walked off jedorah's voice once again rang out.

"Training is part of your contract, failure to perform means liquidation, both legal and otherwise."

"Man that voice is getting annoying." Carmine called out as they marched into another firefight, the mercs may have had numbers. And shepard knew that this would probably take longer, but she doubted these guys expected a man like Carmine…with every mercenary that poked his head out from cover Carmine would blow his head off a second later. As the targets began to move out of range of his lancer ,Carmine put away his lancer and drew out his Long shot sniper rifle. Compared to Garrus' sniper rifle the thing might as well have been a giant cannon. He lined the shot and fired, his shoulder only moved back a bit but the bullet not only hit its target the merc it hit exploaded from the waist up.

Garrus and shepards faces mouths were open so wide it was almost comical, Carmine laughed a bit. The two mercs who were on either side of the man who blew up looked at each other then droped their guns and quickly ran away.

"Yeah that's what I live for!" Carmine shouted as he pressed on taking down any mercs that got in his way. Carmine was a monster, Garrus quickly ran up to carmine, and tapped him on his shoulder.

"Carmine let me borrow your sniper rifle for a bit I saw something out in the distance." Carmine looked at Garrus but figured what the hell, Handing the rifle to Garrus Carmine laughed a bit at how Garrus struggle to hold the thing up at all. Garrus lined up the scoped and saw a woman holding a rocket launcher, Deciding he had a clear shot Garrus fired the rifle. The bullet hit its target killing the heavy, but garrus was launched back from the recoil of the gun and slid on his back a few feet back from where Carmine stood. Carmine let out a loud laugh as did shepard who had managed to witness the whole thing, She wasn't about to let the turian live that one down once they made it back to the ship.

Coming to a clearing Shepard spotted a lone Krogan firing back at some Mercs that were trying to kill it, Carmine and Shepard quickly fired back killing the group, while garrus actually had to sit that one out trying to recover from the recoil of the long shot. When the fighting ended the Krogan turned around and eyed shepard, Carmine raised his gun but Shepard held out her hands telling him to stand down.

The Krogan walked up and sniffed her before spaking, "You…you are different…you don't smell like this world. Seven night cycles and I have felt the need to kill, but you…something makes me speak." The krogan said backing up a bit.

"Night cycles?...so this things a runt?" Carmine asked

"They must breed them to full size, not much improvement over regular mercs if they need training." Shepard said looking again at the Krogan.

"Bread to kill?...no I kill because my blood and bone tell me to, but its not why I was flushed from glass mother. Survival is what I hear in my head…against the enemy that threatens all my kind. But I failed even before waking…that is what the voice in the water said. That is why I am here." Damn this thing was depressing, Carmine thought to himself. He had heard a lot of sob stories in the past but this thing was just damn depressing.

"Can you show me the laboratory? I need to speak with O'keere." Shepard asked

"The…glass mother, she up past the broken parts….behind many of you Fleshy things. I will show you." The Krogan then preceeded to walk up to a piece of large metal that was in the way as he hefted it up he tossed it to the side in a grunt of strength.

"Glad he's friendly." Garrus commented Carmine on the other hand thought the display was neat.

"You fleshy things are slow when big things are in your way."

"You could of run or tried to fight your way back to the labs…why stay here?" Shepard asked out of curiosity.

"I am waiting, the voice told me if they come I fight…but I will not run and I will not follow. I am not perfect but I have purpose…I must wait until called, released." With those final words the Krogan walked back to his spot in the area as the group pushed forward. Garrus noticed a dead merc on the ground with his head and arms torn off.

"Yeah that's not a comforting sight." Garrus said

"Stay close." Shepard called out as she heard voices up a head

"THERE LOOSE RUN FOR YOUR DAMNED LIFE, THEY'RE ALL FREE!" in an instant two mercs ran around the corner and right into Carmine who revved up his chainsaw and began slicing them down. Shepard actually had to turn her head away at that point, Carmine's armor was again covered in blood. She didn't understand why he found the carnage so funny but she wasn't about to question him now.

As they pushed pushed past them, Shepard noticed about 3 Krogan heading towards them, armed only with shot guns they charged. The spread of the bullets was too wide for accuracy so Carmine wasn't too worried when they fired, however when a Krogan fired a Carnage shot it hit Carmine head on.

Shepard actually worried he got hurt but noticed he only stepped backwards a few inches and simply shrugged it off, Damn this guy was a beast. Firing his Lancer as quickly as possible he destroyed two of the Krogan, His blood lust kicking in Carmine revved up the chainsaw and charged the Krogan head on.

"Carmine what are you doing!?" Shepard called out but he couldn't hear her. As the two met Garrus again had his mouth gapped open as Carmine rammed the head of his rifle into the gut of the Krogan lifting the Krogan off the ground. As the Krogan slid slowly down the barrel of the lancer the screams were drowned out by the sawing of flesh as the Chainsaw destroyed the Krogan's insides. Tossing him to the side Carmine wippd off a few Chunks of Krogan flesh off his armor, this recklessness had to stop. Shepard angrily walked up to carmine turned him around and punched the lining of his helmet's jaw, She cringed a bit at how damn hard the material was but she needed to make a point.

"Damnt it carmine, don't ever do that shit again…I don't need my team members carelessly throwing their lives away. You had me worried you ass hole…what if that had been you on the other end of that saw huh? Then what? Me and Garrus would be overrun with mercs and Krogan beserkers." Shepard yelled, Carmine noticed how even though she was yelling she had a worried look in her eyes. God this woman reminded him so much of Benjamin back home, of course he didn't like making people worry either.

"I…sigh, your right. I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Carmine decided to lighten the mood a bit. "Don't worry squirt…you'd honestly think I'd leave ya hangin like that. Besides I doubt you'd last long without me." He chuckled.

Shepard smiled and sighed in relief and her smile somehow crew bigger after the large man ruffled her hair. She didn't know why but this man made her feel like home, like she had family she didn't know unlike her time growing up on earth. This man defiantly gave off that big brother aura, and she actually felt safe when he was around.

As they finished off the remainder of the mercs, the group entired a room when a womans voice called out.

"Wait shepard don't shoot you know me." Carmine saw a blue woman with a strange head crest stand up from behind a table, She was pretty alright but not to his taste. Probably the blue part that kind of threw him off. She seemed to know shepard so he kept his mouth shut.

"I shut down the security cams as soon as I saw it was you, never thought I'd be saying this but I'm glad it's you shooting up the place. Rana thanaptus…you let me go when you destroyed Serien's base back on Virmire. Had to outrun a nuke in a utility pod but still it's a second chance." The woman said, a nuke concerned Carmine remembering all the hammer of dawn strikes on the cities when the Locust horde first appeared on E-day.

"I assume you have a good reason for being at this lab." Shepard asked a little concerned she was seeing this woman again.

"Don't worry Im not wasting the chance you gave me…my work here strictly beneficial."

'Yeah somehow I doubt that' Carmine thought to himself.

"Not for the mercs…jedorah's on a standard power trip, but O'keer's trying to do something good even if his methods are a little….extreame. Everyone deserves a second chance right? And sometimes giving one pays off…I take care of my debts." The woman said with an almost forced smile thought in truth she was scared of shepard.

"Finding you in a place like this makes me think letting you go was a mistake…you don't want that." Shepard said making a small notion with her head drawing the asari's attention to Carmine who was giving the asari a look that almost made her wet her panties in fear.

"w..we agree on that, don't worry I plan on stay as far away from anything to do with you as possible…now if you'll excuse me I plan on running like hell before you decide to blow the place. I know how you work." The Asari quickly ran past the group out the door.

"Im all for second chances…not so sure about thirds." Garrus commented as the group entered the next room where a large tank and Krogan were waiting.

"Here you are." Called the Krogan

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Carmine's POV

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Damn it these people sure loved to talk, first a lizard man that talked too fast. Now a dinosaur that won't shut up about his precious legacy. Carmine shook his head, he knew from doing a little reading on his Oni-tool what their actual species names were but he liked his classification better, and they fit. Everywhere he went it was always science this or science that, didn't anyone just kick ass and ask questions later anymore. All this talk about genetics was way over Carmine's head, of course he was just a soldier all he was trained to do was fire a gun and saw down any enemies that happen to stand in his way. He looked up and around when several vavles began to his.

Carmine walked over to the window and noticed a woman who he guessed was the ring leader, using the butt of his rifle he smashed out the windows of the lab.

"What are you doing?" The Krogan barked angrily

"Saving your butts." Carmine retorted as he pulled out his torque bow and readied the high explosive arrow. He aimed right for the center of the Group and fired, the sticky arrow landed right in front of jedorah as it exploded sending her flying into a wall. As the tanks on the floor began to flush a giant Robot that looked like a silver back reared up and open fired. Carmine ducked down away from fire but the Krogan warlord was not so lucky as a hail of bullets crashed into him, landing on the floor spitting up orange blood the old Krogan finally died of massive wounds no amount of medi-gel could fix.

"Fuck!" Carmine yelled out as he fired his bow again hitting a weak point on the ceiling causing the whole thing to collapse killing the flushed Krogan and mech.

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Normal POV

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When the carnage ended shepard stood up and knew right away that O'keer was dead. Looking over at the tank caged Krogan, she knew he must be special if O'keer had thrown all his research into making him. Garrus was the first to speak.

"What would someone risk their life for one Krogan?"

"If he died for it then it's obviously gotta be something special right?" Carmine added in

"A pure Krogan packs a heavy punch…we could always use another heavy hitter on our side, I wouldn't feel right making Carmine do all the work." Shepard chuckled

Shepard got on the coms and summoned up the Normandy for pick up…things were about to get interesting, and she knew it.

"Normandy…O'keers a no go but we have a package that needs a pick up…..and he's a big one."

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**Alright end of chapter 5! Whew this is getting intense I am actually curious how Im gonna have grunt and Carmine react to each other…next chapter suspense, will the other gears figure out a way to get him back? Or will they also stumble into Shepards univers as well….oh what trials away these heros LOL either way when you throw battle hardned gears into the mix you have a receipe for bloodshed I almost feel sorry for the collectors…..almost. hahaha stay tuned folks.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Whats up guys this is icegod here with another update of the grub killer…I am so happy that I am getting so many good reviews, I literally read a review from moleman171 and I thought damn I need to keep going so I can kickass reviews like that again. Anyway im still not sure what pairings are a good idea thought moleman suggested Carmine and Kasumi…not too sure bout that one but well like I said Im still open to suggestion. But anyway enough gabbing outta me on with the show you all love**

**I don't own mass effect or gears of war.**

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**Chapter 6: Horizon pt 1.**

As shepard walked into the cargo hold she noticed that now carmine and this giant paper weight were now sharing a room. Krogan weren't well known for being the most social of creatures but she grew to be good friends with wrex, and hopefully this Krogan would be as reasonable as him. Hopefully was the key word in that thought.

She instructed Carmine to move his stuff into one side of the room which thankfully wasn't much, Now all she had to do was figure out what to do with their new asset.

"The subject is stable shepard, integration with on board systems was seamless." EDI said over the intercoms.

"Can he see anything in there? Does he know where he is?" Shepard asked

"Not likely…Current neural patterns indicate minimal cognition, in case of ship wide power failure the nutrients in the tank could sustain him for a year." EDI added

"Stand by Im going open the tank and let him out." Shepard warned.

"Cerberus protocol is very clear regarding untested alien technology."

"He's either a powerful addition to the crew or a time bomb. I'd rather deal with it now."

"Very well shepard, the controls are online. The switch and consequences are yours."

The moment of truth she thought…walking over the controls Shepard pressed in the necessary keys and stepped back as the tank began to churn and the fluid began to empty, as the water finished empting out the doors flew open and out dropped the Krogan, she was actually interested at his grey plating not usual to normal Krogan and the clear blue eyes as they darted around the room.

Coughing out some water from the tank the Krogan slowly rose to his feat his vision slowly clearing up, looking directly at shepard he waited a few moments then quickly charged, picking her up and pinning her to the wall, he then to her amazement and surprise spoke.

"Human, female…before you die I need a name." The krogan said looking shepard defiantly in her blue eyes, blue met blue as she showed no signs of fear in her eyes.

"Im commander shepard and I don't take threats likely I suggest you relax." Shepard told the Krogan

"Not your name mine…Im trained I know things, but the tank…O'keer couldn't implant connection his words are hollow. Warlord, legacy, grunt…Grunt. Grunt was among the last it has no meaning it'll do. I am grunt if you worthy of your command prove your streangth and try to destroy me." Grunt stated

However before shepard could answer the doors to the Cargo hold flew open and Carmine walked in, and stood still for a moment. Before quickly reacting to the scene before him

"Hey get away from her!" Carmine shouted

Grunt dropped Shepard and began to charge as well, as the two forces met Grunt's more hunched over form Got under Carmines guard and he soon had him too pinned against the wall. But Carmine wasn't about to let Grunt get the better of him, bringing his knee up he smashed it into Grunt's face knocking the Krogan off balance for a moment. Carmine punched the Krogans face several times, for Grunt it was his first fight and he was bred to fight. But he was not trained or had any knowledge of this Alien, he was excited and he smiled. Carmine on the other hand didn't want anyone to mess with him or shepard, he wasn't sure yet but he wanted to act like a big brother to her and he wasn't about to let anyone mess with his little sister.

Again Grunt charged but Carmine stepped to the side ducking low, and getting a hand under Grunts abdomen he used all his might to lift grunt off the floor and smashed the heavy Krogan into the ground hard. Grunt was now caught off guard…here was an opponent that not only got past his guard but stopped his charge and he was now on his back.

Carmine pulled out his Boltok pistol revolver and pointed it at Grunt's head until Shepard grabbed his arm.

"Carmine that's enough! I think he sees your point, stand down!" Shepard commanded…Giving a quick glance at Grunt she knew she either just saved him or just saved Carmine. She wasn't sure.

"HAHAHA you have a strong clan here shepard and this giant is a worthy opponent and a worthy ally." Grunt said laughing.

The Krogan did nothing but confuse carmine but if he had somehow got him to join Shepard's side who was he to complain. Backing off he put away his pistol as Grunt stood again, this time with a respectfull if not fully excited smile on his face.

"So grunt think youll work fight for me and help me stop our enemies." Shepard asked

"Heh, if you have someone as strong as this alien on your crew and you say the enemies are truly worth…then I shall fight for you shepard, and when I find a clan of my own…when I find what I want. I will be honored to eventually pit them against you." With that Grunt ended his scentence and walked to his side of the room where his tank stood, Carmine wasn't fully sure of this guy but if he just agreed to join Shepard then he must have done something right.

Carmine followed shepard out the cargo hold as the doors closed behind them shepard turned around half way and held a frown on her face.

"I could have handled the situation back there Carmine." Shepard stated rather angrily

"Hey come on ease up okay, I thought the guy was gonna snap your neck…sorry if I thought you were in any danger." Carmine spitted back

The mood had soured fast but then shepards shoulders sank and a small smile came to her face, before she turned and gave the giant man a soft hug.

"Thanks….for watching my back big guy."

Carmine rubbed the back of his head and shook his head, before patting her head ruffling her hair. He chuckled a bit, man this woman felt like a little sister to him.

"Hey no problem squirt…just next time…let me know when you're gonna let a battle hungry idiot loose in my room okay." Carmine said smiling through his helmet.

Kelly came over the intercom breaking their mood, "Commander the illusive man wishes to speak with you in the debriefing room."

"I'll be right there Kelly…see ya later Carmine, when I get done you gotta show me some of your tricks alright." Shepard smiled walking away.

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10 minutes later debriefing room

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As the table in the room lowered shepard stepped onto the pad in the center as the scan ran across her body, she really hated this thing it always made her feel exposed somehow. When the scan finished she was virtually face to face with the illusive man, as the man sat in his chair and puffed on his cigarette.

"Shepard I think we have them…Horizon, one of our colonies in the Terminus systems just went silent. If it isn't under attack it soon will be. Has Mordin delivered the counter measure for the seeker swarms?"

"Not yet."

"Lets hope he works well under pressure." The illusive man took another drag on his cigarette before continuing. "There's something else you should know. One of your former crew Alenko Kaiden…he's stationed on Horizon." The illusive man said without so much as batting an eye.

"Last I knew Kaiden was Alliance…what's he doing out in the Terminus sytems?" Shepard asked remembering her love with Kaiden and the night before their attack against Sairen.

"Officially it's an outreach program to improve relations with the outside colonies, but there up to something and if they sent commander Alenko…then it must be big. Perhaps you should take it up with him."

Shepard wasn't buying it, she never trustes Cerberus and she had no reason to now. She wasn't buying a single word the illusive man was saying at all.

"The collectors just happened to pick a colony with one of my former crew on it?...I don't buy it."

The illusive man simply tapped his cigarette and again took a puff.

"It shouldn't be a surprise that the collectors are interested in you, especially if their working for the reapers…they might be going after him to get to you." She hated it but the man had a point.

"We should send a message to the citadel the Alliance can give us reinforcements."

"Not until you investigate, I don't want the Alliance getting in our way. Once you have the situation under control I'll send the message personally."

"Send the Coordinates we'll head straight there." Shepard was eager to get to the planet to save any colonists she could but in hopes she could see Kaiden again.

"This is the most warning we've ever had shepard…good luck, and I want you to take the new recruite with you as well." Shepard was confused why did he want her to take grunt.

"Why do I need to have Grunt accompany me?"

"Not grunt…Miss Lawson has informed me of the latest and unexpected pick up you retrieved. One by the name of Calyton Carmine." Shepard bit her lip, figured her second in command loyalist would rat out Carmine to the illusive man.

"Why do you want me to bring carmine along?" Shepard asked becoming defensive.

"I want to assess his skill and judge for myself if he is capable of handling something as deadly as a collector, after all I've invested a great deal into you shepard…and I simply want to know what is helping you on your mission…once Mordin has delivered the counter messure head straight for Horizon, now if you will I wish to speak to Carmine myself in private." Shepard shook her head angrily and stormed out of the briefing room.

"Fuck…I knew it." Shepard said to herself, she knew he was going to make an attempt at getting at carmine. Well no matter the illusive man offers Carmine she isn't about to let anyone else work for that madman, especially not Carmine.

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Carmine's POV 20 minutes later

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As Carmine walked into the briefing room he was more than a little nervous, he didn't know who this illusive man was or what he wanted and when he tried to ask shepard about it all she said was to not buy into his lies.

Stepping onto the pad the scanner rand its projections all over him, he felt creepy being in it. As the room darkened before him stood an image of a man in a chair smoking a cigarette, this he assumed was the renowned illusive man.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Clayton." The illusive man said

"Its Carmine to you buddy…only my family is allowed to use my first name." Carmine said with an attitude.

"I understand you may not know who I am and despite what shepard may have told you, we are not the terrorists you think us to be. I am simply doing what is best for humanity to secure our dominance in the galaxy." The illusive man said as he took a puff on his smoke.

"Miss Lawson had informed me that you come from a different universe not like ours, how fortunate then that you do not have to fear the collectors or the reapers. And that you posses weapons normally used for heavy artillery mechs, I'm interested in learning how you came to be who you are."

Carmine didn't need to be an educated genius to know that the man was trouble, as soon as he looked eyes with him he knew in his gut he was not to be trusted. He had spent a majority of his life in the COG and he knew how the big shots thought…they treated the grunts like cannon fodder while they reaped the benefits and didn't care whose lives were lost. The late Chairman Prescott was such an example, he hated that man more than anything after he abandoned the gears when they sunk Jacinto.

"Im offering you a chance to join the Cerberus cause and help humanity achieve their potential…together Carmine I believe we can achieve so many things to stop any threat that comes against humanity." The illusive man said almost sounding like some power drunk moron.

Carmine then smirked under his helmet and stepped forward and as defiantly as he could began to speak.

"Look pal…I honestly don't know your planet or your life style, but lets get one thing straight here. Where I come from we don't take kindly to idiots who are so power hungry they use the banner 'for the good of man' as a slogan when I can automatically tell you wanna dominate everyone who isn't human to serve you like some sick freak. So with all due respect illusive man….you can take your Cerberus corporation…you can take your Miranda Lawson…and you can go kindly FUCK YOURSELF!" Carmine shot the illusive man the bird and stormed off.

Carmine didn't know if the illusive man was pissed at his action and he honestly hoped he was, he didn't like the man and his freaky eyes just crept him out. As he exited the room Joker's voice rang over the intercom.

"I heard your conversation Carmine…I gotta say….very nice, I like you already. I certainly had a good laugh." Joker said chuckling over the intercom.

Carmine felt really good about what he had just done and went to see shepard and Mordin in his lab.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

20 minutes later surface of Horizon

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As the shuttle landed the crew drew their guns ready to fight anything that got in their way, much to his protesting though Carmine was forced to give his armor to Mordin for the modifications. However Carmine was impressed with what the professor did to it, now a shiny blue his armor not only sported Mordins counter measure but also kinetic barriers and shielding, He didn't really want them but any added armor is welcomed.

"Mordin you sure this counter measure will work?" Shepard asked over the intercom. She had brought along Carmine and Grunt with her, over kill in a manner of speaking but still she felt good with the team up.

"Certainty impossible but in limited numbers should confuse detection make us invisible to swarms…in theory." Mordin said the last part almost unsurely, What would Baird say in a situation like this

"Sounds so easy in theory doesn't it?" Carmine stated earning a chuckle from shepard.

"is experimental technology only will know once in contact with seeker swarms. Looking forward to seeing if you survive" Mordin added almost excitedly.

"Yeah that last part doesn't exactly spark the greatest confidence commander." Carmine said

"Doesn't matter we'll mow down anything that gets in our way." Grunt said looking forward to his next battle.

As the group pushed on Carmine was relieved to see that the swarms of bugs weren't attacking them, these things reminded him too much of the Kryll back home. Those things almost made him scared of the dark, he didn't like it. Rounding a corner he heard something strange and looked up.

"Incoming grubs!" Carmine alerted everyone as they found cover, Carmine was low on ammo last time he went out with shepard and as she asked he went to Jacob to see if he could manufacture more for him. The man commented on how the Lancers bullets might as well have been anti-tank rounds. But he managed to make the ammor for carmine, even adding a bonus of making them fire rounds.

This was about to get fun for Carmine, Carmine looked over some files Shepard had given him and knew what the collectors looked like but up close and personal, they were freaks just like the locust back home. His blood lust kicking in Carmine began unleasing his new ammo on the collectors, as before his bullets didn't even pay attention to the fact they had shields. The rounds went through them like butter and with the added kick of the fire tip ignited the Collector in an instant.

Shepard had been watching Carmine the last few missions and he even taught her how to really get up close an person to a grub, the training he had received made her N7 training seem like a cake walk. Apparently where he came from they didn't just want you to defeat your enemies…they wanted you to completely destroy them.

Shepard drew her M-88 avenger only this time it now had a new toy on the end, Carmine fitted her Gun with blade it. As Carmine and Grunt pushed forward they were actually driving the collectors back easily, not being left out Shepard charged. The collectors weren't even paying attention trying to dodge the bullets from Carmine as she ran into the closest one near her impaling it on her rifle. She now understood why carmine did it so much, seeing the collectors glowing eyes die somehow made her feel really good. Tossing it to the side she fired her rifle a few more times, killing the last remaining Collector, Wiping her brow she kept forward with Carmine and Grunt in tow.

Carmine looked up and saw the collector ship for the first time since he had been with shepard.

"That the collector ship?"

"Yep" Shepard said

"That the thing that killed you once?"

"yep"

"that's what been taking humans?"

"Yep"

"Let's fuck em up."

"Couldn't agree more."

Their short but conversation was disturbed when Joker came on over the radio only static was blocking most of his voice.

"Commander…were….getting a whole….of…interference…can't maintain the signal." Joker's voice finally cut out on the radios.

"The collectors are disrupting communications." Grunt stated

"were on our own now." Shepard said with a bored tone.

"Great on our own against a horde of horrible ugly freaks…just your average day." Carmine commented

"HEH…on our own or with the group Ill still tear em apart." Grunt said agreeing with carmine.

Nearing a group of buildings Shepard spotted a collector walking away with some kind of hover pod. Getting into cover several more collectors flew to their position guns drawn. She was waisting time on these idiots, she had to find survivors and Kaiden and this was getting her nowhere fast.

As the firefight continued Shepard like she was actually having fun somehow, the collectors normally would have would have been taken seriously but somehow she was actually enjoying watching them die. Looking over at Carmine she was too late to reach him but called out as a Collector landed right behind him.

"Carmine behind you!" Shepard yelled

Carmine was quick to action though and turned around hitting the collector with his elbow making the creature spin around with a massive headache, flipping to chainsaw mode carmine flipped the rifle upside down jammed the saw into the butt of the collector and preceded to slice in an upward motion. Its flesh spewing all over the place.

"Whoa got some on me" was all carmine said kicking the now dead collector to the side.

"HAHA! Shepard you certainly know how to pick a strong crew!" Grunt called out laughing as he also executed a collector by ripping its head clean off…some of its spine coming with it.

The collectors were actually doing something they didn't think possible, they were being forced to hid in cover. Three people were making them hid in cover, One Collector suddenly began to shiver and change as it lifted into the a loud voice rang out over the area.

"I am assuming direct control." As the lone collector glowed it turned around and aimed its weapon.

Carmine saw this and his rage became even more furious, this thing reminded him of the lambent and he hated the glowies. As the thing kept on the suppressive fire Carmine took out more of its buddies, Grunt doing the same. But this particular Collector seemed more interested in Shepard than them, until finally he was the only one left and his shields weren't going down no matter how much shepard fired on him. Having enough Carmine pulled out his boltok pistol and aimed at the collectors legs, firing two shot the massive bullet blew away the legs of the collector as it fell on its face.

"Hey squirt…you still got that flame thrower?" Carmine called out

"Yeah why?"

"Why don't you show our glowy friend over there what I taught you on the ship." Carmine said with an almost audible laugh.

Shepard nodded with a smirk as she walked up to the flailing collector that was still glowing pulling out her flame thrower, as it looked at her it spoke once again.

"We are Harbinger, and we are your perfection."

"Yeah I don't think so freak." With that Shepard slamed the front of the gun into the Collectors gut and pulled the trigger, the glow on its body was soon replaced with flames as it screamed in agony until it stiffened. The flames spitting out the two limbs Carmine shot off and out its mouth as it soon lay dead burned to a crisp.

Carmine walked up and gave her a hardy smack on the shoulder.

"Nice…now then…lets go save some colonists and kick more ass." Carmine said lifting his lancer up a bit

"Damn straight." Shepard smiled back as they began heading deeper into the colony.

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**Whoa god that was a long chapter…well on MS word it looks long anyway.**

**I am so evil, hehe…I know what your thinking and no its not exactly the retro lancer but I figured that since carmine doesn't have the retro lancer adding a blade onto Shepards avenger is just as good…hehe is it just me or did I make Shepard as brutal as Carmine?..yeah I made her as brutal, and Im lovin it. I think I may even give grunt his own special execution lol god I feel so evil right now. I almost feel sorry for the collectors…..almost **

**Please review and let me know what you think and again if you have any suggestions as to pairings please let me know, also Baird and the others will be making an appearance really soon…probably the chapter after next. Icegod out. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Wassup people im back with another chapter and yeah I know this is basicly part 2 of Horizon but the reason for that is last night I got very sleepy and I didn want to stay up that late and plus that chapter was already getting kinda long…anyway as an announcement next chapter we will start to see what is happening on sera with baird and his group. And were going to see how they try and make it to where carmine is. Anyway only one person has suggested that carmine get with kasumi, no idea how I can make that work but like I said it's still the just beginning so Im open to ideas if you have any. Anyway lets get this chapter done and gone LOL I don't own gears of war or mass effect.**

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**Chapter 7: Horizon pt 2**

Wave after wave of Collectors flew down to stop them, sure they managed to pick up a few gadgets and gizmos along the way but Carmine was beginning to get bored with how pathetic the Collectors were getting. Shepard had said these things were supposed to be strong, even the illusive man had said they were deadly. But these things were about as tough as a newly hatched Corpser, couple of bullets and they went down. At least he thought so until he saw the husks, if this is what the collectors were doing to humans then he had an even bigger reason to fight. He really wished he had Delta squad with him.

"Those things look like the husks from Eden Prime." Shepard said looking over a dead husk body.

"Didn't the geth get that technology from Soverign?" Grunt asked

"Then that illusive dork was right, the collectors are working for the Reapers." Carmine added as the group pressed forward. Coming to another husk something caught shepards attention as she got close and examined it.

"This guy almost looks human…is it one of the Colonists?" Carmine asked disgusted by the thing.

"No…the Geth impailed their victims on giant spikes to turn them into husks, so far we haven't seen any. Which means the collectors must have already had the husks."

"If that's true then the those Collectors must have already had them with them when they got here." Carmine said as he kicked the husk aside, it wasn't even human anymore so he didn't feel bad about it.

"The collectors must be experimenting on the Colonists, just what could they be doing?" Shepard said not asking anyone in particular, but got an answer from carmine.

"In a situation like this Id say it's better not to know, ya know."

"The collectors aren't getting away with more people, let's move out."

"Hoorah!" Carmine said.

There resolve was sound and true, or at least until they rounded the corner and Carmine and shepard came face to face with a massive number of what looked like sleeping pods.

"This is….this is terrible, oh my god."Carmine softly almost in shock.

"Your people….gone." Grunt added in.

"Just another reason why we need to kill these god damn grubs." Carmine agrily said, he didn't like the idea of being stuffed inside a pod to be experimented on, and if the Collectors were doing this to families all over the galaxy. He was going to make sure he killed the collectors…slowly to make them suffer.

Shepard didn't know if she was angry but for some reason she could almost feel what Carmine was feeling. Womanly instincs or not she knew he wasn't happy about what was happening and her own moral seemed to sharpen, she no longer wanted to defeat the collectors. She wanted to completely erase them from the galaxy, the collectors and the reapers.

Pressing forward the group once again engaged several collector troops and the occasional Harbinger version, which carmine was always happy to decapitate when the firefight was over.

Reaching a building once the cross fire was finished Shepard bypassed a security lock opening a large garage door, the room was dark but filled with mechanical equipment. Communication sensors and power grids, Walking further in however Shepard halted the group eyeing the area. Drawing her weapon she pointed in one direction.

"Company….get out here, now!" She ordered.

A small man wearing some kind of had poked his head out, he was short and stout well to carmine he was short anyway. He came out further, the man looked to only be in his late 30's if early 40's, Carmine was curious what he was doing here at all.

"You…you're human. What are you doing here? You'll lead them right here." The man said in a panic.

"You had to have heard them trying to get in here. Seems like its hard to hide from the collectors." Shepard said. Carmine just thought the man was a pussy, he was taught a real man shouldn't hide from enemies. Instead they should be the one hiding from you.

"Those things were collectors…you mean, their real. I thought they were just made up, propaganda to keep us in Alliance space. No they got Lilith I saw her go down, Stan too they got damn near everybody." The man said in a panic.

"Whats your name, what do you do here?" Shepard asked trying to calm the man down.

"Names dolan…mechanic, I came down here to check on the grid when we lost our com-signals. Then I heard screaming…I looked outside and there was swarms, bugs everyone they touched just froze. I sealed the doors…it…it's the Alliance's fault, they stationed that Commander Alenko here and they built those defense towers. It made us a target." The man said in frustration.

"Tell me more about this alliance rep." Shepard asked

"Alenko?...heard she was some kinda hero or something, didn't mean anything to me thought I woulda preferred he just stay in alliance space."

"Any idea what he was doing on Horizon?"

"He was supposed to be helping us get the defense towers back online, but I get the feeling he was here for something else though…spying on us maybe."

"What about the defense towers?" Carmine asked

"A gift from the Alliance…High powered guardian lazers, supposed to keep ships from landing near the colony. Had to build a massive underground generator just to give it enough juice, only we couldn't get the targeting systems online…the Alliance gave us a giant gun that couldn't shoot straight!" Dolan spitted out.

"What makes you think it's the alliance's is responsible for this?" Shepard asked.

"Were just a small colony, nobody ever paid us any mind until we started building those damn defense towers, and drew attention to ourselves…I left Alliance space to get away from the council nothing good ever comes from getting mixed up with them."

"You have defense towers we can use them against the collector ship."

"You'd need to calibrate the targeting system first, its never worked right."

"One of us can figure it out, we just need the location." Carmine added completely bluffing, he didn't know how to make that stuff work but this man didn't need to know that. Last time he needed something working a good smack usually did the trick.

"Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony, it's pretty hard to miss…the targeting controls are at the base.

"Might be a good idea if you stay here and outta sight, youd just get in our way." Carmine said, the man was pathetic.

"Yeah that's just what I was thinking, I'll let you out but im locking the door behind you…im not taking any chances, good luck I think you're gonna need it."

As the group exited they were greeted by a horde of Collectors who were now ready for a fight, Carmine had to laugh a bit which got Grunt and shepards attention.

"Whats so funny?" Shepard asked.

"There's an old saying I heard once back where I came from…howd it go?...it's not that were outnumbered were just in a target rich environment."

Shepard and grunt laughed, Grunt was very approving of this giant man…he liked the way he thinked feeling his blood rage kicking in he did what any Krogan was born to do, fight.

As the firefight began the collectors unleased their hail of bullets and lasers onto the group, This didn't do anything for them. Bullet after bullet was exchanged and soon only carnage was being left in their wake, They even began to walk forward a little as the Collectors were being pushed back. A few times Carmine's new barriers would go down but he would simply lay waste to whoever took them down long enough for them to recharge.

Grunt charged a few Collectors knocking them down and smashing their heads in and even ripping a few heads off of the bodies, waking from a tank and fighting enemies in great numbers were what he wanted but the way Carmine and shepard were executing them only made him even more happy as he began going more primitive with his attack, shooting and dismembering as he went.

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10 minutes and large pile of dead collectors later

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Shepard was now in cover hiding her head as heavy Husks with large cannons wielded to their bodies fired againt, its one shot killing her barriers fast. Her bullets were only doing so much and Carmine was preoccupied with the smaller husks and collectors that kept landing. They were quickly losing ground and she was almost out of ammo, thinking fast she called out to carmine.

"Carmine get over here!"

Carmine rushing to her side into cover looked down.

"Hey hand me your lancer…and then I need you to throw me at that husk with the cannon!"

"Are you crazy? You're asking me to throw directly into cannon fire!"

"Not at its face moron…I need you to launch me into the air so I can land ontop of it, im going to saw that grub from top down!" Shepard said with a wicked smile.

"You are one crazy chick you know that! I like it looks like I'm rubbing off on ya huh?"

"Well it takes a crazy to know a crazy!"

"Point taken…alright stay on my six!" Carmine called out and with that Carmine stepped outta cover pulling his revolver out and firing at the massive husk. Carmined handed Shepard his lancer as so fired up the chainsaw, as the Husks aimed its cannon at Carmine…fired.

"NOW!" Shepard yelled, Carmine quickly grabbed shepard and using all his streangth launched her into the air just as the cannon fire hit him, killing his barriers and launching back onto the ground and into Grunt. Flipping herself around in the air she was right in the Husks blind spot landing directly on top of it.

"Eat this you over grown grub!" Shepard jammed the lancer into the top of the husk sawing and sawing as it struggled to get her off of it, blood was spewing everywhere as she kept sawing, finally losing her footing the husk shook her off its back. Thinking quickly Shepard grabbed the massive husks one flailing arm and was still dangling a few inches from the ground, the husk looking her in the face as his gaze met a smiling shepard with an insane look on her face.

"Surprise!" She said as she jammed the lancer into its face sawing and cutting it as she got to her feet bringing the power saw down in a downward cut, pulling out the gun she Kicked the husk back a bit as it stumbled a bit and finally fell to the floor.

Carmine walked over and shook his head a bit Grunt doing the same, as Shepard handed him his gun back. The carnage that lay around them would have made anyone cringe at the sight; someone would question the sanity of the three people who caused it. Shepard walking over to the controls and reactivated the com-signals.

"Joker do you copy?" Shepard hailed.

"Joker here, signals weak commander but we got you."

"EDI can you get the colonies defense towers online?"

"Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified but it will take time to bring the towers to full power. I recommend a defensive posture…I will not be able to mask the increased generator."

"The collectors will try to stop it…good." Grunt said happily, excited for the next fight.

"Well stop them…easy enough."

"Maybe not…enemy reinforcements closing in, I suggest you ready weapons." EDI stated as the group brought their guns up again.

"Let's kick ass!" Carmine yelled

More collectors flew in to the battle field as they group sought cover, the excitement made Grunt happy were as Carmine went into his blood lust mode. Shepard wasn't sure if the collectors could feel anything but she had to wonder if they felt like cannon fodder at this point, as she unloaded more rounds into the nearest one. The carnage unfolding was almost too surreal for Shepard, she had gone through something similar to this on shanxi and the battle of blitz but this. This battle field, something about it was completely different, on Shanxi she simply held out until reinforcements arrived…but this, she was decimating the Collectors she even stepped over a dead collector to reach the next one.

"Shepard hand me your gun!" Carmine called out, this soon became almost like routine for the two they switched between rifles. Carmine didn't fire her's and neither did she. He instead used the Blade welded onto the gun to stab one of the Collectors in the gut and breaking his legs with a powerful kick before using the blade again to slash the neck as the collector died slowly chocking on its own blood.

"Come on baby die for papa!" Carmine yelled in an almost battle cry like state. Shepard meanwhile was busy sawing down a collector; she did fire the gun only once but didn't like the kickback it had. This lancer was severely overpowered compared to her avenger.

"Switch!" Shepard called, as they two once again switched back weapons as Carmine completely blew off the head of a Collector that tried to charge him, kicking the dead body away from him like a ragdoll. Grunt was having fun and was looked almost like he was having an orgasm from the carnage they were doing to the collectors.

As they fired the last bullet the cannons began to fire on the Collector ship the explosions knocking off a few pieces of the haul, after only a few minutes one final Collector appeared to try and destroy the control tower and Shepard and her crew. The creature hovered over the air but its mouth looked like it held a collection of Husks inside it, that disturbed and pissed shepard off even further.

The blue eyes Glowed almost charging until too late she was unable to move, the massive creature fired its eye lasers destroying Shepards shields and knocking off her feet.

"Shepard!" Carmine called as he unleashed a hail of bullets at the monster, this one was significantly tougher however as his bullets went past its barriers however its hide was incredibly thick as the bullets only damaged it briefly.

"Grunt keep its attention I need to see if Shepards alright!" Carmine called out, Grunt nodded and fired heavy shot gun bullets at the creature…it was effect as its attention was now focus on the perfect Krogan. Carmine rushed over and slide into cover next to shepard looking her over, Her armor was only charred a bit he was relieved to see that. Thankfully she was only knocked out a bit, but over all unharmed. Carmine looked back to see the creature's open mouth with the husks inside and he had an idea.

"You stay here squirt…you just let big bro handle this one." Carmine said leaning shepard against a crate as she recovered. Standing up tall he drew his torque bow and loaded the high explosive arrow, turning around rage in his eyes.

"Hey FUCK FACE!" the creature turned looking directly at Carmine

"FUCK YOU!" Carmine said firing the arrow just like his bullets the arrow completely ignored the monster's barriers landing inside its large mouth the creature was confused for all about 20 seconds when the arrow blew exploding the Collector from the inside as Chunks form the monster blew everywhere.

Putting away the torque bow Carmine turned to see that shepard was already back on her feet and was alright…She walked over and gave him a nod in approval. Their brief rest was interrupted however when the collector ship began to move, the damage from the constant cannon fire beginning to strain the haul of the ship becoming too much as the ship fired its engine and took off back into space.

"Damn…that ship must have gotten half the colonists." Carmine said after the ship left orbit. The groups attention came back to the planet when Dolan came running out.

"No don't let em get away!"

"We did everything we could." Shepard said trying to calm the man down.

"Half the colonies in there they took keegan and Sam and Lilith…do something!"

"I didn't want it to end this way…I did what I could."

"It was a good fight shepard." Grunt said however her name caught the man's attention.

"Shepard?" He said turning around, "Wait…I know that name, sure I remember you…your some type of big Alliance hero." The man said annoyed

"commander shepard." A voice rang out softly as a figure stepped out from behind a building. To Her surprise it was Kaiden.

"Captain of the Normandy, the first human specter, savior of the citadel…you're in the presence of a legend Dolan…and a ghost." Kaiden said with a smile.

"All the good people we lost and you get left behind. Figures, screw this Im done with you Alliance types." Dolan said and marched off in a huff.

Kaiden came close to shepard and in an instant hugged her close, Carmine and Grunt backed up a bit to give them some space. As the embrace ended Shepard smiled happily.

"I'm glad your okay Kaiden…how have you been?" Carmine noticed the mood in the man sour fast.

"That's it?...you've been gone for two years and you don't even so much as call or even write. I thought you were dead, I thought we had something shepard…I loved you. How could you put me through that?" Kaiden asked emotionally distraught after seeing the woman he loved once again.

"It wasn't my choice…I spent the last two years in some kind of coma while Cerberus rebuilt me." That last sentence made Kaiden even more upset as he backed off further from shepard.

"Your…with Cerberus now? The reports were true?" Kaiden asked

"Reports?...you mean you already knew?" Carmine added curiously.

"Alliance Intel said Cerberus may have been behind our missing colonies. We got a tip that this one could be the next one to get hit…I went to Anderson but he stone walled me. There were rumors that you weren't dead, worse that you were working for the enemy." Kaiden said in a disgust tone.

"Kaiden I don't answer to Cerberus, were only working together now so we can stop the collectors." Shepard said defensivly.

"Do you really belive that shepard? How do you know Cerberus isn't just using the threat of a Reaper to get you to work for them?" Shepard could feel her heart breaking, she just wanted to crawl into herself and hide.

"How could you betray us Shepard…you turned your back on the Alliance, on Anderson…you turned your back on me." Kaiden said angrily. Shepard had now had her heart crushed and she shook her head…her shoulders falling. Carmine picked up on this and had had enough of this man throwing around blame.

Stepping in front of Shepard Carmine looked down on Kaiden, who had only backed up because of the size.

"Hey buddy…I don't know what your deal is, but the Collectors are the ones taking the colonists not Cerberus. And before you ask I don't work for a group like Cerberus because there a bunch of ass holes. However I do wanna stop the collectors, so if you're gonna sit there and blame Shepard for all this then I think my gun is going to find its way up your ass crack and im gonna put a bullet where it's not supposed to go." Carmine said leaning down getting in Kaidens face.

"So unless you have something good to say I suggest you keep your fuckin mouth shut before you no longer have a head to talk with."

"Id listen to him if I were you." Grunt said motioning for Kaiden to look at the piles of dead collectors that lay behind them. Kaiden was emotionally exhausted but he wasn't stupid either, if something like this guy could kill that many collectors by himself he wasn't about to piss him off any further.

"Alright okay, back off…im sorry." Kaiden returned his gaze to shepard.

"Just…becarefull okay shepard, I don't trust Cerberus." Kaiden then slowly walked away out of Shepard's view.

With her head hung low Shepard looked like she been dealt a low blow, reaching for her earpiece she summoned Joker.

"Joker send the shuttle to pick us up…I've had enough of this colony." Shepard said almost in a sad tone.

As the shuttle arrived Carmine softly padded Shepards back, getting a soft smile out of her to reassure him she was okay for the time being. The ride back to the Normandy was Quiet, Grunt knew to keep quiet and Carmine gave Shepard the necessary space he knew she probably needed. He knew what it was like to lose a loved one, and knew she must be feeling the same.

"I…need to give the illusive man the report when we reach the shuttle, afterwards I will be in my cabin while we head to the next mission okay guys." Shepard said to them as they simply nodded

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5 minutes later debriefing room

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As the scans finished shepard was once again looking at the illusive man sitting so comfortably in his chair. He tapped his cigarette a few times then took a slow puff of the nicotine.

"Shepard, good work on Horizon…hopefully the Collectors will think twice before attacking another colony."

"it was our first strike how do we find them next time?"

"The Collectors will be more careful now, but I think we can find another way to lure them in."

"I wondered if you had something to do with that attack." Shepard said even though she was upset she kept her composure.

"Kaiden said the Alliance got a tip about me and Cerberus."The illusive man took another puff on his smoke.

"I released a few carefully disguised rumors that you might be alive and working for Cerberus."

"I see…what were you trying to prove?"

"I suspected the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you. Now I know for certain, it was a risk but I couldn't just wait for them to take another colony…you understand." Shepard was very pissed and she hated this man even more, but Kaiden just broke her heart and now she only had one thing left and that was taking out the Collectors.

"Whats our next move?" Shepard asked.

"We have to keep the pressure on the Collectors…They'll be more cautious with their ground operations. So we need another opening, I'm devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega 4 relay. We have to hit them where they live, your team will need to be strong as will their resolve. There's no looking back…same thing goes for you, can I assume you've put your past relationships behind you?"

"It was hard to see Kaiden again." Especially since the man just broke her heart.

"And now it's done…best to leave those connections behind and focus on our mission. Shepard, once you find a way through the Omega 4 relay and to the Collector home world. There's no guarantee you'll return to have any hope of surviving, you and your entire team must be fully committed to this."

"My team is strong and they are at their best." Shepard said almost weakly

"I've forwarded three more dossiers, keep building your team while I find a way through the Omega 4 relay. And be careful shepard the Collectors will be watching you." With that final sentence the Illusive man ended the conversation.

Turning around Shepard spotted Jacob leaning against the wall almost nervous.

"So were really gonna do it, hit the Omega 4 relay…Take the fight to the collectors looking forward to the action. After seeing what those bastards did on Horizon though, makes you think." Shepard decided to try and lighten her mood.

"You should have seen what me and Carmine did to them."

"Oh I saw shepard…and I gotta say, those were some crazy moves back there."

"Thanks Jacob."

"Im not sure if I buy Carmine's story, but hell if he can do that to a collector im sure as hell glad he's on the team mam." Jacob then saluted and walked out leaving shepard alone with her thoughts.

**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**And end of Horizon part 2, so let me know what you think in the reviews. And let me know what you thought of the battle with the collectors on horizon, did I go over board in anyway? Or did I not go brutal enough? I look forward to reading the reviews…its what keeps me wanting to write this story. So please keep them coming. Baird and company will be making an appearance in the next chapter by the way so look forward to that. LOL**

**Ice god out**


	8. Chapter 8

**Ice god here back and pimping with another chapter, I know many of you love my story so far and I appreciate all the feedback and I absolutely smile everytime I read a good review. It literally makes me smile so much that I constantly come back and write more as often as I possibly can. This chapter is the start of the true Gears Cross over…oh an incase your wounder this story will have a sequal that carries into mass effect 3 and ooooh boy do I have a massively epic ending that honestly makes me wish the guys at bio ware did something as awesome as what I have in mind. But I wont spoil it anyway im still trying to dicide who carmine should fall in love with options…jack, tali, Kelly, liara or even kasumi. Don't know. Heck I may even give him sam byrn from the gear universe again idk still working on that…I don't own mass effect or gears of war, also can anyone tell me if they still allow lemons? Wouldn't be mass effect without a little naughty business lol ;)**

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**Chapter 8: Gears of a feather kill together**

Baird was struggling to work the mechanics of the consol after spending almost a month fixing the damn thing he was confident he finally had it fixed. Of course after he told everyone else what happened they weren't too happy about it, especially Sam. However after assuring he could fix the situation he set out to work, he actually enjoyed what he was doing though…working with tech always made him happy.

"Well Baird how's it looking?" Anya asked, bringing him a cup of coffee, Baird took the cup and took a sip before setting down a clipboard.

"Well in theory with all the components working it should send to Carmine's location no problem…of course that's that thing, I have no idea what exactly he's been doing or if he's even alive." Baird pointed at a screen above the console.

"See this?...this is carmine's last updated location. The professor was defiantly trying to see if this machine would work, and through a lot of tests it does work." He took a sip on the coffee.

"Only thing is theres only enough juice in the machine to send 3 people to go and get him, and even if we sent those people to get him…the blasted contraption would shut down and need to recharge for a week."

"Is there any way they could get back?"

"Well yeah…looking over the professors notes, I managed to make a small device that can be used to re-open the machine however since this side's machine would have to recharge I had to install a damn timer on the thing to let us know when it was all clear to make a jump."

Colonel Hoffman walked into the room along with Sam and Cole; the Colonel was pissed at Baird but forgave him when he said he could easily fix it. After all the man fixed the hammer of dawn when they needed it most, so he looked past the man's weird obsession to mess with anything mechanical.

"Well Baird I hope you've made some decent progress over these past month." Hoffman said in his usual gruff voice.

"Yeah I do, however there's a catch." Baird said finishing off his coffee.

"What kind of catch?"

"The machine since it got fired before can only sustain enough juice to transport a limited number of people to the locked in destination, after that the whole thing needs a week to charge…oh yeah and it only has enough juice to send 3 people so whoever we send, they have to be damn good." Baird said returning his gaze to the console.

Hoffman rubbed his chin thinking about who he could ask, he didn't know if Fenix would want to go, and he was already short on men as it was thanks to Myrrah.

"Were gonna need volunteers if we plan on launching this little rescue mission."

"actually you only need two people to volunteer because im already going." Baird said not even turning around, that surpised everyone in the room.

"Baird…that's not like you, why would you want to go through that thing?" Anya asked a little concerned.

"Well for one, you need a technical genius like me to work the thing from the other side and I don't trust the muscle heads the colonel woulda picked to work such delicate materials." Baird said with a hint of sarcasm. Cole walked forward holding with a big smile on his face.

"Well heck if Bairds going I'm going too…besides Baird wouldn't know what to do without me watchin his back."

"Well kind of figured you were gonna go Cole." Baird said with a smirk.

"Of course baby, nothing can stop the Cole train, not even some fancy shmancy portal thing."

"Alright I guess that just leaves one more volunteer…so who's it gonna be?" Baird asked looking around the room. For a while no one spoke up or moved up…the thought of going somewhere no one had been before was scary in itself. They didn't know what to expect and they didn't even know if they could handle it…Finally one lone female Voice spoke up.

"I'll go, you two would be nothing without me." Sam spoke up…Anya walked over to her with a motherly look on her face. She came to care for the woman like a sister.

"Sam you sure?...you don't know what you'd be up against on the other side…we would have no way of knowing how you guys were doing once your there." Sam took a deep breath and thought it over for a second before flashing Anya a smile.

"Yeah Anya im sure….I can't leave Carmine out there like that all alone without someone to watch his back. Besides I still owe him a beer for that time on the bridge, no thanks to Baird over there."

"Hey I said I was sorry lighten up will ya…geeze, people just can't understand genius." Baird said muttering the last part to himself.

As the Group got themselves ready they took all the weapons they were going to take with them on the trip as well as enough ammo to supply a small platoon. Baird took with him the standard Lancer, with the sawed off shot gun and Gorgon sub machine pistol and several grenades. On his back was jack his personal pet and mascot of Delta team. Cole had with him his lancer, while taking the boom shot and regular pistol also taking with him he brought the One shot with enough ammo so he wouldn't run out anytime in the future.

Sam however chose weapons that would bring her the most satisfaction, she equipped her retro-lancer, boltok pistol, Long shot sniper rifle and for an added bonus took with her the Cleaver. She had a massive and evil grin on her face as she equipped the heavy blade onto her back.

"Alright we all ready to go?" Baird said as he put the device for the return home into one of his pockets, as well as a book. Sam noticed the book raising an eye brow.

"What's with the book Baird you plan on writing a diary?" She teased.

"No…I know it's a rescue mission and all but if we see anything that's even remotely alien I wanna be able to document it ya know." Sam just rolled her eyes thinking that baird was a nerd. And straightned up when Colonel Hoffman stood before them.

"I don't know what you'll face when you arrive out there, but I want you to know that you are going someplace no other gear has gone before. Make humanity proud and make sure you honor your uniform…now get out there and bring one our own home." Hoffman said in a gruff commanding voice

The group now called Delta 1 saluted as Anya fired up the machine electricity flying as the machine whirred and roared. The pad the group stood on soon lit up ready to take them to where carmine was, and they were determined to get their friend back. As the faint barrier surrounded them Baird decided to say the one thing he had always wanted to say.

"To infinity and beyond!" Almost on cue the machine fired and they vanished, Anya rubbed the bridge of her knows as got to work manning the console, as Hoffman went back to helping the cleanup crew begin to rebuild. Marcus walked past the Colonel and sat down next to Anya.

"So they really did it huh?" Marcus said softly

"Shame we couldn't have gone with them…but im glad just to be here now, alive." Anya said resting her head on Marcus' shoulder.

"They'll be fine…they've been through a lot worse than this remember?" Marcus said holding Anya's hand.

"Yeah…And when they come back well be waiting." Anya giving Marcus' hand a soft squeeze.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

PLANET Haestrom

A small bug stepping out into the sun begins to fry as its tiny squeaks die off fast as it bursts into flames, the Cerberus shuttle flies over head EDI calls shepard over her Radio.

"Shepard our data indicates that tali is somewhere in these ruins. There is considerable Geth activity and an environmental hazard, solar output has overwhelmed Haestrom's protective magnetosphere…Exposure to direct sunlight will damage your shealds." As the shuttle took off Shepard looked around, everything was stone and in ruins.

As soon as they stepped into the sun into the sun Shepard's suite computer beeped signaling her Sheilds were overheating, as they rushed back into the shade.

"Well that wasn't Pleasant, that sun fries my shields shepard." Kasumi said as her shields burst from overheating, beginning its cooldown phase. Carmine's doing the same.

"So our barriers go down, we'll just have to work up a small sweat when fighting no big deal…consider it a workout session." Carmine mused feeling the heat of the sun

"A workout session for YOU maybe, I'd prefer to stay the shade." Kasumi bantered back.

"Crybaby."

"oh please…I bet deep down under all that muscle your just a big ol teddy bear."

"Don't push it." Carmine joked back, as the crew made it to a road block. Shepard tried fooling with the panel but it read Kal-reegar was needed to authorize access. Heading to the control room she found inside a dead Quarian and a dead Geth Destroyer. It had to of been a terrible battle, on the Quarian she found an audio log that was set to auto play.

"Emergency log entry: The geth are here, I've stayed to buy the others some time. Anyone who gets this find Tali'Zorah. She and that data are all that matter…keelah se'lai." As the message began playing again. Shepard walked over and began to hack the controls opening the road block.

They group didn't even get a few feet before kasumi called out.

"Geth Drop ship incoming!" As the giant ship flew by dropping several pods, Carmine tilted his head a little as the small pods changed and morphed into humanoid robots.

"What are those things?" Carmine asked aiming his lancer and firing a few shots at one, the bullets cut through the Shields and blew off one of the limbs. Since the robot wasn't organic it didn't feel any pain and continued its approach only firing its rifle with one hand until clay finished it off.

"There called Geth, there synthetics created by the Quarians…and now they're well….running rampant even drove the Quarian's from their home world." Shepard said as she quickly cut down a few more geth using disruptor rounds.

"Sucks to be them then."

"Carmine well chit chat later, let's focus now." Shepard said finishing their conversation.

As they unleashed their bullets Carmine decided to try out the electrified tipped Rounds Jacob made for him, if his hunch was right they'd be perfect for taking down robots. Lining up his shot Carmine fired his hail of large bullets connecting with a much larger geth, as the bullets connected to their Target the Geth simply exploded in a giant ball of electricity.

"Damn…I gotta remember to thank Jacob later, guy keeps finding ways to make my bullets even more distructive." Carmine said to himself. All that remained were a few Geth who instantly cloaked themselves from their eyes.

"Shepard watch yourself they've gone stealth." Kasumi called out holding her pistol up on guard. She and shepard managed to kill two of the stealthed Geth however one remained as the Group looked around, Carmine looking to his left noticed a shimmer on something reflective in the sun…grabbing his jungle knife which to everyone else might as well have been a short sword, Threw it as hard as he could hitting the last remaining Geth square in its face as it fired a few random shots then died.

Kicking the dead Geth Carmine looked around, there were plenty of shady spots to fight from but the sun was making things very hot, he was working up a very good sweat at this point and was going to need a good shower once this mission was over. He didn't know who Tali'Zorah was but she was apparently an important technical specialist that Shepard needed.

"Shepard I am picking up a massive energy pulse directly behind you…I would advice a cautionary defense position." EDI called over the radios. Carmine started backing up as the wind suddenly picked up as sparks of electricity started flying through the air. A small white sphere began to form as it steadily began to grow larger.

"Shepard….whats going on?" Kasumi asked a little worried about what was happening, Carmine had a hunch but kept his mouth shut.

As the sphere grew to a large enough size to look like a giant blob, three screams were heard as several people were spat out of the sphere along with a lot of weapons, the heaviest one landing on the last ones head. Carmine's eyes grew wide as the orb disappeared, on the ground before him was Delta squad…well most of Delta squad anyway. Cole, Sam, and Baird had all come through the portal.

"GUYS!" Carmine called out quickly rushing over. Leaving the Shepard and Kasumi baffled

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxx

Delta squad 2 minutes earlier

Sam was embarrassed by Baird's lame exit, Cole only seemed to laugh. This portal hurt though…The group felt as if they were being pulled apart even though they weren't. Their bodies and guns staying in tacked during the entire trip. Looking over at Baird Sam hollered out.

"BAIRD, HOW MUCH LONGER THIS PAIN IS BEGINNING TO BECOME UNBEARBLE!" She felt like something was constricting her entire body making it hard to breath, and she didn't like it.

"I…have no idea, but think of it like this…pretend its child birth it'll be over soon." Baird managed to crack a joke even though they were all in massive agony.

"If we survive this Baird…I'm kicking you in the nads!" Sam yelled back

As the tunnel of light stretched onward Baird looked up and noticed the tunnel coming to an end, trying to take a deep breath he closed his eyes and steadied himself for certain doom. Only to find himself being thrown onto a hot stony ground as Sam and Cole landed on him, the equipment they brought with them following behind them as jack was the last through the portal falling and landing on Baird's head.

As the group slowly got off each other Baird stood upright popping his back, his vision was a little blurry but overall he felt fine, until he heard an all too familiar voice that he was hoping to hear.

"GUYS!" it was carmine and he looked to be in okay condition.

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Normal POV

"I can't believe it…you actually managed to find me!" Carmine said in a cheery tone.

"Ohooo, come now Carmine who loves ya baby!" Cole shouted as him and Carmine butted their rifles against each other happy to see each other again. Sam couldn't think of anything to say instead ran up and gave the man a bear hug happy to see someone she cared about again, and not dead.

"Well you are part of Delta squad Carmine, and well you know I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ya know…find new life and junk." Baird said coughing a bit.

"HAHA, oh what is it Baird? Too embarrassed to admit you missed me?" Carmine said walking over and slapping Baird on the arm.

"Yeah yeah yeah group hug." Baird finally looked around after all the pleasantries were out of the way.

"Carmine where are we and what the hell have you even been up to man, and what with the shiny new duds?" Baird asked looking at how shiny Carmine's armor was. Carmine shook his head and shrugged.

"Man Baird, you are not gonna believe the crazy crap I've gotten into lately…hell even I don't believe it sometimes." Carmine said, Sam and Cole looked behind him.

"Hey Carmine who are the kids?...you been picking up chicks while I've been away huh?" Sam said teasingly pointing over at Shepard and Kasumi.

Carmine quickly cut the friendly chatter remembering what he was originally here to do, and motioned for the group to follow him.

"Guys, as much as I enjoy seeing you guys again I'm gonna need your help…I need you guys to trust me on this one and follow my lead alright as soon as I'm done doing what I'm doing here I'll explain everything alright." The others were confused but if Carmine was being serious then it had to be important.

"Alright Carmine we'll go with you since we won't be going home anytime soon anyway." Baird added getting a nod from Carmine, Following him back to the two girls Carmine began introducing them.

"Commander Shepard, these are my friends as well as my squad from where I come from…going from the left Agustus cole…we just call him cole, Samantha Byrne or Sam…and Finally the genius who got me here in the first place..Daimond Baird." The group nodded to the two.

Shepard was in awe at the people that just appeared, not only were they bigger than them their guns were just like Carmine's which meant a lot more dead bodies, if she played her cards right she could have them help her stop the collectors. Shaking their hands they all smiled making her feel a little more comfortable.

"Carmine your friends showing up is great and all but were here for a specific mission, so let's keep moving…once we get back to the ship Ill answer any questions anyone has and hopefully get some answers as well." Shepard said before moving forward again. The rest of the group following behind her, as they rounded a corner Shepard spotted more Geth after having just executing several Quarians.

"What the fuck are those things?" Sam called out drawing her gun.

"Robots called geth, and they are very very easy to kill…trust me on this Sam." Carmine called to her as the group unloaded their rounds into the synthetics, their bodies not even getting the chance to turn around before they fell. Shepard and Kasumi were shocked…they didn't even have to fire their own weapons and had basicly just stood still and watched the entire thing. Shaking her head out of her thoughts she heard someone calling out to anyone on a radio that had been dropped by a Quarian.

"Break-break-break op-1, this is squad leader Kal'Reegar, do you copy? The geth sent a drop ship towards OP-2. Tali'Zorah's secure but we need back up…were bunkered up here can you send support?" Reegar called, but was getting no response…Shepard picked up the Radio as Kal'Reegar called again.

"Squad leader kal'reegar come in OP-1, do you copy come in!" Shepard decided to answer.

"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy, can we provide assistance?"

"Patch your radio into 617 Theta, we were on a stealth mission. High risk…we found what we were after but the Geth found us. They've got us pinned down, Can't get to our ship, cant transmit data through the solar radiation."

"How are you holding up we can be there in a few minutes." Shepard continued her conversation with the Quarian as Carmine motioned for Cole to follow him as he pointed to a giant flying slug thing.

"Hey Cole I saw you brought the one shot with you…how much ammo did you bring anyway?" Carmine asked.

"Heh, the Colonel said we could bring as much as we want so we brought enough to supply two platoons."

"Let me borrow the one shot for a sec, I wanna see how itll do against that Slug thing coming towards us." Cole nodded handing Carmine the giant elephant gun, Kasumi was trying to focus on what Shepard was doing but her curiosity peeked when she saw what Carmine was doing, walking over she saw he had an even larger gun than before. Looking at what he was aiming at she was about to voice her concern when Carmine Fired the giant slug…as it barreled towards the Geth drop ship the massive bullet impacted the ship destroy a very large portion of the ship as it began to sway and instead of flying to destroy the remaining quarians the ship flew over the group and landed behind Shepard and her team exploding on impact.

Shepard looked at Delta team mortified when Kal'Reegar came over the radio again.

"Damn Shepard did you bring a tank with you?...that round knocked that ship outta the sky, thanks for the support Ill meet you over here when you're ready…hurry more Geth are bound to show up. Reegar out." Quickly walking up to carmine she almost yelled out not from anger but from sheer overwhelming curiosity.

"What the hell was that thing you just fired?"

"An elephant gun mam" Sam said as Carmine simply nodded in agreement, Rubbing the bridge of her nose Shepard shook her head. Carmine was just full of surprised and she had a feeling she'd be suffering gray hairs before she was even old.

"Alright let's keep moving we got to get Tali and get off this planet." The group nodded and followed as they reached the base camp the Quarians gave shepard their thanks but were especially cautious of Carmine and his friends. They had never seen humans so big before, Baird was especially excited a little nervous but excited none the less he had so many questions he pulled out his journal and began taking notes about everything that was going on around him. Carmine knew his hunch was right, Baird was acting like a kid in a candy store.

"Hello?...Shepard is that you?" A hologram of a female Quarian called out to shepard as she went to answer.

"Tali…this is Shepard me and my squad, well a friend's of mine squad stopped a Geth drop ship from killing the rest of your team…there safe but they don't look like they could handle another go at a fire fight."

"I'm just glad their safe…we knew this mission was high risk, damn it. And what are you doing here Shepard?...were in the middle of Geth space." Baird was inching closer at the words space…he didn't want to look like he was eaves dropping but he couldn't help himself. He continued listening.

"I was in the neighborhood I thought you might need a hand." Shepard said smiling.

"Thanks for coming Shepard it means a lot to hear your voice. Kal'Reegar and whats left of the Marines, got me into the Observatory…From where you are its through the door and across the field. I got the data we needed and I'm safe for now, but I've got a lot of Geth outside."

"Hey uh…Shepard mam." Baird said gaining her attention.

"This door is jammed and whatever these controls are there pretty fucked up, how are we supposed to get through the door?" Baird asked

"We could always blow it." Sam answered holding one of her grenades. Tali shook her head no.

"I can get the door open from my end give me a second….there is should be open now." The group heard the door unlock and slide open.

"Do what you can Shepard and please be carefull, do what you can to keep Kal'Reegar alive." Tali's hologram ended as Shepard headed out the door her large squad following close behind. Sam decided to pull Carmine back a bit wanting to know why he was following this woman.

"Carmine I understand fighting our way to safety but we exactly are we following shorties orders?"

"Sam it's a long story but heres the short version, a really ugly group of grubs are kidnapping humans for really sick experiments and Im helping her stop them…because I don't wanna end up getting fucked over like the people who were kidnapped." Carmine said with a quiet tone.

"I see well if humanity in this dimensions in trouble it's normally the duty of the COG to help, but we don't know a thing about this place mate."

"Trust me Sam…if you saw what I saw, it wouldn't mean jack if we were under orders from the COG or not, I'm helping so no more families are hurt like mine was back home." Carmine ended the conversation keeping forward until they were stopped by a small platoon of Geth with two Geth primes at the rear.

"Flashbulbs!" Carmine called out drawing his weapon, an appropriate name by gear standard, as the group open fired. Shepard hid behind some cover trying to keep her shields from dying unlike carmine and his group who didn't care about the sun, although Sam made a comment about how Carmine needed a good shower from all his sweating. Shepard couldn't even pick a target because whichever target she picked two seconds later it was already destroyed by Carmine's gun or one of his friend's guns. She wasn't usually the jealous type but was beginning to feel like all she had to do was not do anything this mission, and it sucked. All that was left at this point were the two large Geth primes. Carmine, Sam and Baird fired at it but the much larger metallic beings were much tougher than there smaller counter parts only damaging a bit from the bullets as they slowly walked forward.

"Look out baby the Cole train's got this one!" Cole yelled out pulling out his Boom shot taking aim, he pulled the trigger as the grenade launcher fired its massive round. As the round met its target the large explosion destroyed the Prime blasting it to pieces, if Kasumi's jaw could drop any further it would look like a cartoon.

"Need to reload…Cover me!" Cole called out as Carmine and the others stood in front of Cole firing their bullets at the large prime, giving Cole time to load the boom shot again. Shepard was impressed but also felt a little weird, she had worked with plenty of squads both human and alien alike…but these four worked so well as a team that they made anything the Alliance had to offer look like teddy bears. When Cole finished reloading he called out again.

"Primed and ready…eat it ya over grown flashlight." Firing his weapon again hitting the Prime with the same result, massive chunks of metal flying everywhere.

When their path was clear Shepard again took point leading the squad again…she had to know what kind of training these people had because they were completely destroying her N7 training. Nearing a window unit Shepard pressed a few of the controls to open the door, however as the shades flew open she looked out only to see A massive colossus rear up. As it turned its gaze towards them it stiffened its body up charging its particle shot before firing.

"MOVE!" Shepard called out as they all ducked out of the way avoiding the huge explosion. Sticking to the right they rushed out the door and into cover, however they stumbled upon a lone Quarian with a rocket launcher, as he turned to see the group he called out to them.

"Get into cover before it sees you!" As they all ducked behind the heavy stone walls Shepard was nearest to the Quarian with the others behind her.

"Squad leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant fleet marines…we talked on the Radio before you shot that drop ship out of the sky…I still have no idea why you're here, but this aint the time to be picky." Another explosion from the Colossus as the geth with it kept on their suppressive fire.

"Tali's inside over there. The geth killed the rest of my men, and they're trying to get to her…best I've been able to do is draw their attention."

"Are you sure she's still alive?" Shepard asked

"The observatory is reinforced; even the geth will need time to get through it. And its hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you. The geth are near platoon streangth but that Colossus is the worst part. It's got a repair protocol…huddles up and fixes itself. I can't get a clear shot while it's down like that. I tried to move in closer, and one of the bastards punched a shot clean through my suite."

"How bad is your suite damage?"

"Combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination, and I'm swimming in anti-biotic. The geth might get but I'm not gonna die from an infection in the middle of a battle that's just insulting."

"Any ideas on how to deal with the colossus?" Carmine over heard her and decided to interrupt.

"Shepard I have an idea but we'll need to split up into two teams, while someone stays behind here."

Shepard looked over at Carmine open to any suggestions.

"What did you have in mind Carmine?"

"We've got the one shot elephant gun with us and if we can get on both sides of that thing we can lower its shields enough and distract it long enough that one of my guys can line up a clear shot and take it out." Kal'Reegar liked that idea and he still had a rocket launcher good to go.

"Alright lets finish that bastard off…I may not be moving so well but I can still pull a trigger." He added in, shepard shook her head.

"You've done enough reegar, you don't need to through your life away."

"Wasn't asking your permission, my job is to keep Tali safe…this is our best shot."

Shepard pulled him to the side yelling at him.

"We don't have enough people on our side for you to take one for the team!" Quickly getting back into cover.

"Im not gonna stand there while you run into enemy fire…they killed my entire squad."

"And if you wanna honor your squad you'll watch our backs…I need you here incase more Geth show up!" Reegar seemed to be conflicted with himself but finally nodded.

"Alright Shepard we'll do it your way…hit em for me, Keelah se'lai!" Shepard turned to her side and motioned for Carmine to take his group left while she went right to the sniper point…Cole stayed behind with the One shot ready to take his shot as Carmine and Baird went left while Shepard, Kasumi and Sam went right. Carmine and Baird were instantly under fire but kept on with their attack killing Geth after Geth. One tried to get close but Carmine smashed its legs out before smashing in its head, they were doing well.

Shepard on the other hand was being forced into cover as was Kasumi…Sam didn't care and kept on firing at the Geth taking them down one by one. The cat walk filtered them into a single line and she was able to easily mow them down, the final one managed to get a hit on her its bullet grazing her arm.

"Ah…you song of bitch that hurt, now you're dead!" Lowering her Retro-Lancer she charged the geth as fast as she could impaling it on its blade tossing it aside she pushed forward. Shepard had to catch up with her occasionally ducking into cover to recharge her over heated shields. As team one ducked into cover Carmine and Baird aimed and fired…their bullets dented the Colossus' armor but didn't manage to penetrate much, On shepard's side they unleashed their own hail of ammo, hurting it as much as possible. The Colossus kept moving its head from left to right to lay down fire but everytime it looked in one direction, it would have to aim in a different direction to stop the fire from hitting it.

Carmine signaled Cole who brought up the heavy elephant gun and looked down the sights, Pulling the trigger the recoil was stopped a little thanks to the cover he was in. As the bullet impaled the large Geth punching a hole straight through and sending it sliding back into the wall before it exploded. As the Dust cleared Cole holstered the one shot and slowly caught up with the group. They were all waiting outside the door, Cole getting several nods of good work from his group where as he got stares of awe from Shepard and Kasumi.

Tali radioed Shepard when she heard the gun fire stopped.

"Just a second I locked the door so the geth couldn't get inside…there that should do it."

The door unlocked and slowly tried to open before it fell over from the explosion caused by the one shot. As the group walked in Shepard saw Tali working fast at a computer panel.

"Thank you shepard, I never would have made it out of this room if it wasn't for you." She wasn't turned around yet. Finally turning around she stepped back looking at all the large humans in the room, in shock.

"Shepard you know there are giant humans behind you." Tali whispered to Shepard.

"Tali, this is Carmine and his friends…they helped me take out the Geth that were trying to get in here." Tali walked up to Carmine and his group nervously rubbing her hands together.

"Thank you…I owe you my life, I'm glad you're on our side if your helping Shepard." She said in a soft town. Baird walked up examining the small girl, with a fascinated look.

"Amazing…and you're an alien, wow this is the first time im seeing one…suit. Is it a hazard suite?" Baird asked making the young quarian blush a bit under her helmet.

"Um…it's an environmental suite, because my race has a weak immune system." Baird rubbed his chin in thought for a second.

"Funny, I wounder what kind of filter's the suite uses or if theres some kind of way to maybe boost your immune system in some way. God theres just so many theories and ways to do it I wouldn't know where to start." Baird said talking beginning to talk to himself making the girl embarrassed.

"Uh Baird…were here for a reason remember?" Carmine reminded him shaking the man from his thoughts.

"Shepard you certainly have picked up a strange bunch of people." Tali said looking back at Shepard.

"You have no idea tali…you have no idea. A lot of quarians lost their lives here was the data you were getting worth it?" she asked

"I don't know shepard it wasn't my call. The admiralty board believed the information here was worth all our lives for, I have to believe they know best."

"I didn't ask what the admiralty board thought I asked for your opinion not theirs." Shepard said in a matter of fact tone.

"A lot of people died here some of them were my friends, all of them were good at their jobs…That damn data better be worth it, the price was too high."

"What can you tell me about your research here?"

"Haestrom's start is destabilizing, back when this was a Quarian colony it was a normal star. It shouldn't change that quickly." Baird decided to interrupt his curious intellect getting the better of him.

"umm miss…Tali was it?...do you have any idea why that sun is doing what its doing?"

"If I had to guess I'd say it was dark energy effecting the interior of the star."

"Makes sense, a lot of stars act in a similar matter by blowing steam when they're about to enter into a red giant phase."

"Right but Haestroms sun is far too young for that to be natural." Tali was impressed at this man's knowledge. Shepard decided to interrupt this science fair before everyone got distracted with the real mission.

"Whatever the reason, I'm glad we could help. Once you deliver that data I could use you on the Normandy."

"I promised to see this mission through and I did, I can leave with you and send the data to the fleet. And if the admirals have a problem with it they can go to hell…I just watched my entire team get slaughtered." Tali said sadly.

"Not your entire team mam." A voice came out as the group looked back to see Kal'Reegar limping towards the group along with a few more Quarians behind him.

"Reegar…everyone you made it!" Tali yelled happily.

"Your old captain's as good as you said, damn colossus never stood a chance."

"Actually that would be..ugh!" Baird was about to say they were responsible when Sam elbowed him to shut him up.

"If need be the Normandy can get you out of Reegar." Shepard said.

"nah…the geth didn't damage our ship, so long as we get out of here before reinforcements show up, we'll be fine."

"Actually I won't be going with you I'm joining commander Shepard." Tali told reegar.

"Ill pass the data to the Admiralty board and let em know what happened…shes all yours now Shepard keep her safe." Shepard nodded before hailing for the Normandy for pick up.

"Normandy come in…we need a pick up for two, we have a lot of people with us…I want Miranda and Jacob in the Briefing room."

"Aye commander." Shepard turned to Carmine.

"Carmine when we get to the Normandy take your friends to the Briefing room…this is going to be a long talking session I can already tell." She said rubbing the bridge of her nose.

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**And end of Chapter 8…so what did you think? Was it too weak? Was it not brutal enough by all means let me know…and Im leaning on having Sam and Kasumi fight over Carmine thought Im not sure…I still need to figure out if I wanna throw jack in that interaction as well don't know, but the chapters to come are going to be good even loyalty mission will be action packed though Carmine wont be on all of them. Anyway ill be updating again either tomarrow or the next day depending on my work schedual…Stay tuned my valued readers. Also can anyone answer my question about the lemons…cuz that would be great to know. Anyway let me know about pairing ideas im interested to know**


	9. Chapter 9

**What up people Im back with another chapter! Man I seem to be updating these like carzy…oh well, oh as an announcement sometimes in the near future I will be putting this story on hold for a bit. Don't worry it's not for a long time it's just until I finish moving into my new pad, but until then Ill be updating this story on a daily basis like I've been doing. A shout out to moleman171 for suggesting I give the story some downtime for the characters….Im sure some of em need a shower anyway LOL anyway I don't own mass effect or gears of war….also who do you think Carmine would be a good match with? Kasumi Goto or Samantha byrne? Let me know. Also I know I forgot to give Cole and the others the translator but Im going to over look that minor detail and just give them omni-tools…so forgive me on that one minor detail.**

**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Chapter 9: Gears among Normandy

As Carmine and the others stood in the briefing room against one side of the wall, Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob stood against the other. There was an awkward silence for a while until Shepard decided to break the silence. Trying to open the floor with some friendly chat.

"Carmine what you and your team did back on Haestrom was amazing, you and your group are some fine soldiers to your uniform…whatever uniform that might be." Shepard said with a smile.

"Thanks squirt." Suddenly Sam decided to speak up.

"Am I the only one here who has a problem with all this?" Walking forward she turned to Carmine.

"Carmine I came here to get you, and I can even buy that whole helping stop the bad guys crap…but we don't know jack shit about these guys and more importantly I want to know why you're so casual about all this." Carmine shook his head removing his helmet holding at his side. His brown eyes meeting Sam's

"Look Sam I already told you, Shepards a good kid….but her two friends on the other hand." Carmine said looking at Jacob and Miranda. Jacob taking a small gulp Miranda keeping her intense look.

"Those two work for a group called Cerberus…Jacob is cool so no need to worry about him, Miranda on the other hand. Let's just say I don't really like how she works or who she works for. By this time most everyone on the ship was huddling the door of the briefing room, even though it was closed. Garrus along with grunt and the others were all curious about who Carmine brought with him.

"So any idea who the others are?" Jack asked Garrus.

"From what I gather…and from what Shepard told me they're from where Carmine comes frome."

"Meaning there as deadly as he is in combat ha!" Grunt added smashing his fists together. Getting a nod from Garrus. The others were listening in on Shepards conversation more while Kasumi was feeling a bit weird about the whole thing. Until Garrus interrupted her thoughts.

"Kasumi you were there on Haestrom with Carmine…what were his people doing there?" Garrus asked

Kasumi rubbed her chin then decided it was better just to tell them.

"It's the funniest thing…they weren't even really there to begin with, EDI had said there was a massive spike in energy then next thing I know. I'm looking at this giant white light and out pop three giant people, with enough ammo and weapons to level half of Omega." Kasumi said earning a shock from the others.

"And here's the kicker, they had with them some kind of strange weapon…Carmine knew how to use it obviously but to me it looked like the gun from a Mako tank, because as soon as it fired it punched a hole in a geth drop ship destroying it enough to where it crash landed behind us. Then it did the same to a colossus Geth, only with that one it blasted a whole clean through like the Geth was paper." Kasumi finished. Garrus was going to have to speak to Carmine about his weapons if they were going to take down the Collectors and possibly the collectors in the near future.

Jack shushed the entire crowed pessing her ear against the door, Garrus and Kasumi doing the same. Listening as Shepard began speaking again to Carmine and his group.

As shepard brought up a hologram of a Collector, she Looked at Carmine who had visibly tensed up but stayed quiet.

"This is a collector, Origonally they were thought to be just a myth but they've been kidnapping Humans and doing horrible tests to them." Baird stepped forward and leaned on the table looking the Collector image over in thought.

"What experiments are we talking about here?" He asked.

"They've been turning people into husks…basicly think of the Lambent humans back home, and theses things are even nastier." Carmine said, Sam shivered as Cole shook his head thinking about what he had seen.

"Alright so it's just another grub that needs killing." Cole added in.

"It doesn't look that simple." Baird butted in

"If this thing has been taking humans then it's obviously got something big in store for us, and I don't know about you…but I'm not exactly a fan of being turned into a mindless zombie." The other gears nodded. Shepard figured that Baird was the more sensible one of the group and tried to ask him a few question, with luck maybe she could get few answers.

"Your Baird right?...I was hoping you could tell me a little about you guys, Carmine didn't say anything but I assume he's like me…a Soldier. But I'd like to know more about you guys." Baird looked back at Carmine as if asking if she was good.

"Don't worry Baird, Shepard's legit…she wouldn't back stab us, and besides I trust her." Carmine said smiling. Baird nodded turning back to shepard, taking in a deep breath he began.

"We came here using some experimental technology a man by the name of Adam Fenix was working on, it was a means of transporting humans to a new location in the unfortunate end that humanity was driven from its home of Sera the planet we come from. We were at war with an underground race who called themselves the Locust, and their queen…Queen Myrrah believed that Sera was rightfully hers. The Coalition of Ordered Governments or COG for short fought them every step of the way but we were losing ground." Shepard decided to ask her questions.

"How were you losing to the Locust?" Shepard asked

"We gears are tough…but the damn Locust had numbers, and a shit ton of em. No matter how many we killed they just kept coming, they were like a hive of insects you kill one, two take its place…It was hell for a long time. We lost a lot of good people, friends…family…loved ones." The others got quiet, Shepard even notice Carmines gaze soften a bit as if in sorrow. She knew he must be remembering his brothers, and decided to ask a different question to take their mind off of this depressing train of thought.

"Can you tell me about your weapons? They seem unreal, they ignore Shielding and kinetic barriers and from what Jacob told me they might as well be anti-tank ammunition." Shepard said Baird looked confused, they were just standard round for the Lancer-MK2 .

"I think I have a theory about that…though not entirely sure if it's accurate." Baird pulled out one bullet from his pocket. And sat it on the table, the size of the thing was enormous…Shepard's guns didn't use bullets just tiny anti-material rounds that were fired out of her gun using a tiny mass effect field to hurl the round at its enemy. Thinking about it now it was no wounder Carmines bullets ignored the shields…Technology from this world would have no way of knowing about Carmines bullets and were designed to stop bullets from her weapons not Carmines.

"See where im going with this? Your technology is based on using projection rounds and not actual bullets so it's no wonder those robot things were easy to kill." Shepard was finally understanding as were the others, and their unknown audience outside the door.

Shepard stood straight and decided to ask the impossible.

"Carmine's already agreed to help me…but I want to know your answer, I would like your help in stopping the collectors. I don't want any more humans being subjugated to those mad man experiments they've been doing. And of course once it's all over I promise to doing everything I can to make sure you can all get home safely, and with luck we can even work out some kind of alliance between your world and mine." Baird turned away.

"Huddle up." Cole said as the group got into a small huddle to discuss everything that's been happening.

"Okay well…things so far are going good, naturally since were representatives of our dimension I would normally vote that we stay outta this crap."

"But if we don't help our chances of going home are pretty much thrown out the door." Carmine added in.

"Man I don't know son, all this crazy sci-fi stuff is way over my head." Cole adding in his two cents

"As much as I don't like the situation were in Carmine has a point, if we don't help then our chances of going home are fucked, and I would rather die on my own terms then by the hands of some creepy grubs." Sam said

"Okay…so we have two votes to stay, one vote that's undecided and one vote that all for just keeping behind the lines." Baird said talling up the calls for their predicament.

"Come on Baird have a little faith would ya…these grubs aint so tough heck me and the commander slaughtered a whole lot of em on the last planet I was on." Carmine said adding on the charm

"Sigh…well being the genius I am I can't pass up the opportunity to examine as many things as possible…sigh yeah okay faith, got it Ill trust you on this one Carmine." Earning a smile as the group broke formation Baird walking back to the desk, Shepard waited for an answer when Baird looked up with a smile on his face.

"Commander as representatives of our dimension, and Gears…we are honored to help you stop these grubs from taking any more people. We are gears and it will be a pleasure to work alongside you…however I do have one condition."

"And whats that?" Shepard asked, there was always a catch.

"I trust Carmine and I don't want anyone trying to recruit us to join Cerberus, We will work for you and only you Shepard…so whoever this illusive man is, tell him we are COG first and we work for shepard not him." Shepard smiled, well that was a condition she could accept with open arms, Miranda on the other hand wasn't so pleased…she again failed at brining in potential aid to Cerberus' cause and she hated failing.

"Welcome aboard Gears, I have plenty of room on deck 3 of the Normandy for all of 3 of you to stay."

"Three of us?...where's Carmine sleep?" Sam asked.

"He sleeps on deck four near the engines, said he likes it there and he and Grunt seemed to have gotten to be very good friends apparently." Sam looked at Carmine in confusion.

"He's an alien, and before you decide to punch the nearest grub in front of you. There not all bad…the aliens on this ship are pretty neat to talk to, just don't talk to Garrus I think you might insult him if you told him you were the better sniper." The group turned around when a faint WHAT was heard. Shaking his head Carmine walked over to the door stepping to the side he pressed the controls to open it, and in poured Jack, Garrus, Kasumi, Grunt and the rest of the Normandy crew. It was almost comical if Garrus hadn't reacted the way he did.

"Nice of you to join us." Shepard said in a sarcastic tone.

"Shepard we were just umm…"

"Save it Garrus…anyway meet the Gears, they will be joining us in our mission to stop the collectors." Garrus nodded looking them over, he got the same look he got from Carmine when he first got to the Normandy, they were all looking at him daring him to attack so they had an excuse to kill him. He actually felt small against all these people, he didn't even think Grunt would last against the four gears in the room.

Shepard dismissed the crew and Carmine walked past the others with his team in tow. Once the others cleared the area, Shepard looked back at Jacob and Miranda.

"So…I know you all have something to say might as well say it since their not here." Shepard motioned for Jacob to start first.

"Commander I have gotten to like Carmine and how he works, and in all honesty I wish I had had the training he did back in basic, the Alliance or even Cerberus doesn't train their soldiers to do what they do…I think I now believe Carmine's story about coming from another dimension and his weapons and friends prove it, so Ill trust him and the others and I'm actually glad he's on our side. They may not want to work for Cerberus, but at least their willing to help."

"That's the problem." Miranda objected.

"This ship is full of Cerberus Intel, who's to say they won't hack into the computers or worse kill everyone on the ship and take it for their own?" Miranda said angrily.

"Miranda if they wanted to take the Ship Carmine would have done it already, I don't think they would know how even if they wanted…besides I may not be a people person but I could tell by watching them that they want to stop the collectors as bad as we do." Jacob argued back, Shepard was glad he was in her corner at least.

"You sure you're not just upset because they shot down the idea of joining Cerberus before you even had a chance to ask? Because this is my ship and my mission, and it's their choice if they even want to join and they made their choice." Shepard said finishing their conversation. Miranda shook her head and walked out in an angry huff. Jacob followed soon after with a salute.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Normandy Cargo room 3 minutes later.

Carmine walked back to his and grunt's room after showing Sam and the others where they could put their things. Sitting on his cot he looked over and Grunt was smiling like an idiot.

"What?" Carmine finally asked.

"You have a strong clan Carmine, and they are as deadly as you are in battle our enemies won't stand a chance."

"Yeah…that's for sure and their practically lining up waiting for us to bash their heads in."

"Everyone gets a turn haha I like it…your alright in my books Carmine, and if your krant is as powerfull as you are one day I will be honored to pit what I find against you and your clan one day."

"Lookin forward to it buddy, thatll be one heck of a fight." Grunt simply laughed the usual way he did before turning to his own business, a few moments later Kasumi walked in.

"Carmine, mind if I have a word with you in private." Carmine nodded and followed, he noticed how Kasumi was swaying her hips before he heard another laugh from Grunt but chose to ignore it.

"What can I do for ya Kasumi?" She looked around a bit then looked up at the muscled man.

"I have a grey box from my deceased associate Keji…it holds in it information that could potentially start another war in the alliance space and have everyone hitting earth…I can't let that happen. A man by the name of donnivan hock stole Keji's greybox from him when he killed him. Naturally I want to steal it back."

"Why steal it? Why not just go in with guns blazing?" Carmine asked

"Please Carmine, you underestimate him…Donnivan hock is one of the biggest and most wanted mafia criminals of all time. So this one is going to need a little bit of fines to it, Normally I would ask shepard but Donnivan is probably going to have body gaurds that are heavily armed. That's why I need a strong man like yourself to help me out….whaddy say Carmine? Feel like helping out a gal in need?" Kasumi asked trying to sound as sweet as possible.

"Alright alright…you don't have to butter me up to help, so whats the plan?" Kasumi smiled using her Omni-tool she began working fast.

"Donnivan is going to be throwing a party in honor of all the scum of the Galaxy, so as you can imagine the nastiest and deadliest are going to be there…However this is a formal party so youll need to wear something nice. And don't worry about shepard I've already talked to her about what to get you…however she did say she would like to see how you look once you put the more appropriate attire on." Kasumi said actually wanting to see what Carmine would look like out of his armor and in a more formal outfit.

Luckily for her Shepard made the necessary stop so Kasumi could take a small shuttle for her and Carmine.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Inside Sports car 3 minutes later

Carmine was very embarrassed about what had happened, earlier in the stores. Cole went with him to pick out what he called smooth duds. Cole's sense of style however wasn't exactly to the female's liking as Kasumi, Shepard and even Sam gave a thumbs down at it. Cole didn't let it get o him and just said he was bringing sexy back but gave up and let Shepard have a crack at dressing the man. Everyone was impressed and Sam and Kasumi had to hide their blushes when Carmine stepped out in long black dress pants with a nice jacket and dress shirt underneath, on his neck he wore one silver necklace that sam said would be a good touch. Shepard gave a thumbs up and Carmine noticed how sam and Kasumi were squirming a bit keeping their eyes from meeting his. He simply shrugged.

As the hover car flew the air to its destination Kasumi smiled.

" Your looking quite good their Mister Fenix. The women at the party won't be able to keep their eyes off you." Carmine blushed a bit in embaressment, though Kasumi thought it was cute.

"So your gave me the name Marcus Fenix…my Squad leaders name back home, why?"

"Well since no one has ever heard of a Marcus Fenix I figured it would be highly appropriate to call you as such." Carmine shook his head.

"You run a small but talented band of mercs out in the Terminus systems…precisely the type of person Hock respects. I took the liberty of giving you a reputation, papers, witnesses, article in badass weekly…just don't start talking business with him and you'll be fine."

"Remind me again…what kinda guy are we dealing with?"

"Hocks a weapons dealer and smuggler…he killed my partner and stole his greybox, other than that he's not so bad. Rich, charismatic..and willing to crack a man's skull to get at the neural implants inside."

"Details?" Carmine asked wanting to know how they were going to pull this off.

"You have been waiting patiently." Kasumi brought up several images on the on board computer showing carmine as they went.

"Our friend Hock is throwing a party for his closest friends…a couple dozen of the best liars, cheaters and mass murderers you'll ever want to meet. All bringing gifts as a tribute to the man himself. Our tribute is a lovely statue of Shepards old friend sarien rendered with loving detail…and filled to the brim with our weapons and armor. You can keep your pistol as long as its concealed, though I won't lie you're lucky you're so big…concealing a pistol as big as the one you have would have been hard for anyone else. Once inside we'll make our way to Hock's vault door somewhere in the back of the ball room. Case the security and then start peeling away the layers."

"The statue should be there waiting for you to crack it open and arm up….then we just walk into the vault and take back Keji's greybox, and Ill finally get a chance to say goodbye." Carmine could tell that Kasumi was doing this for a different reason, she worked too hard on this and had to voice his thoughts.

"You worked really hard on this…Keji must have meant a lot to you." Carmine said looking out the window

"Was I that obvious? Keji's greybox holds a lot of priceless personal memories, it's all that remains of who he was. But the secret he discovered is dangerous; I wouldn't have brought you if it wasn't." Carmine nodded his understanding

"This…should be interesting." Kasumi simply smiled. As the vehicle landed Carmine and Kasumi got out, Carmine being the gentleman he was closed the door after her. Looking over they spotted the statue being unloaded from a truck with a few men checking it over.

"After you mister Fenix." Kasumi said letting Carmine take the lead. As they approached the door one of the Gaurds stopped them.

"Hold on a moment sir there seems to be an issue with the statue." The man said looking over his Omni-tool again and again. Looking up Carmine spotted the man Kasumi had shown to be the Hock they were after, walking down the stairs he looked at the guard.

"Is there a problem here?"

"No Mr. Hock just doing a scan." Hock looked up at Carmine as if judging him.

"I don't believe we've met…Donnivon Hock."

"Marcus Fenix." Carmine said holding out his hand, Hock looked at the hand then grunted, Okay so the man wasn't much for playing nice.

"Sir the scanners aren't picking anything up." Hock looked at the statue with great interest, before speaking to the guard.

"I don't think our guests would come all the way from illium, just to cause trouble…do you?" The guard shook his head, as Hock walked back to Carmine.

"You may pass through Mr. Fenix, you were invited after all…but I must ask your companion to remain outside, you understand I hope."

"Could you explain why my friend here has to wait outside?" Carmine asked

"I don't like how your friend looks simple as that, besides a man as large as yourself shouldn't really need a body guard, not with all that muscle." Hock said

"If it makes you feel more secure she can wait outside."

"Good to see we're not going to have a problem." Hock then left back inside as Carmine walked to a bench with Kasumi.

"Well that didn't go as I expected." Kasumi said a little disappointed.

"Any idea why he didn't want you in there?" Carmine asked

"No…we've never seen each other in person and no one knows what I look like, just watching his ass I'm sure."

"Don't sweat it, I can handle it from here."

"That's good, because since I'm forced to wait outside you'll have to do all the talking, I'll stay out of sight and stick with you the best I can…We'll keep radio contact in case something goes wrong." Carmine nodded then headed inside, Walking past a few people he gained a few stares but not many much to his approval. Carmine looked like a crime boss to everyone else but he was really here for a greybox. As he looked around the place Carmine nodded at how impressive Hock's mansion was…this man may have been just a scum bag criminal but the man had good tastes in buildings.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

20 minutes later Vault entrance

"Nice there's more here than I expected…Password protected voice lock, Kinectic barrier, D.N.A. scanner Looks like an EX-700 series. Everything a vault needs to be imprenetrable." Kasumi said holding her chin in thought.

"This gonna be an obstical?" Carmine asked

"Please, remember who you're talking to…we'll need to get a voice sample for the voice lock you'll have to go chat up Hock for that, well need a password too. DNA? Child's play, we should find plenty of Hock's DNA in his private quarters. And the barrier?...cut the power never fails if we can find it. Keji could get through a system like this in his sleep, and I'm better. Let's get to it."

As Carmine walked back into the party he decided to chat up Hock for the voice sample so he could knock that out of the way, he wasn't sure what he was going to say but figured he'd pull out the Carmine family charm. Walking up the Hock he gained the man's attention without even saying a word, mostly because of his large size.

"Mr. Fenix good to see you." He said shacking Carmine's hand.

"I hope the scene at the door didn't sour your evening."

"Not at all its very understandable, after all there are plenty of people gunning for people like me and you." Hock nodded then turned to the window and began to preach like an idiot or so Carmine thought.

"People these days want comfort, entertainment, love. They don't see that the galaxy is fragile…they only have to worry about simple luxuries, why? Because people like me and you are doing the terrible things that keep the galaxy spinning. This party is for us, the cleaners the support structure for the galaxies gleeful delusions of peace. May there always be a market for the things we do." As he finished several other people around him clapped for his speech as he bowed his head to them all. Kasumi finished her recording closing her Omni-tool.

"I said get him talking and you got him talking, we've got enough of a voice sample let him go." Kasumi said cloaking herself once again.

"Enjoy the party Mr. Fenix." Carmine proceeded to look around more shaking his head a bit, That wasn't what he was used to. Without his armor or helmet on he felt naked. Heading outside he saw a ledge leading down to Hock's room, Leaping over the railing while no one was looking he landed as quietly as possible so the Gaurds below wouldn't see him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

30 minutes later Vault doors

Carmine had been done with the stealth mission, he was used to going load and mowing down anyone in his way, but he had to trust Kasumi on this one. Once the vault door was open Kasumi smiled.

"I'll handle the security, go ahead and get dressed…I won't look." Carmine nodded as he began disrobing Kasumi waved her omni-tool and hacked the feed for the security Camera's to play a dream sequence to appear as if no one was there. Turning around faintly she saw carmine clad on in his boxers as he opened the drawer for his armor, Kasumi's blush got even redder as she saw all of Carmine's battle scars and tattoos, the one on his right arm however intrigued her the most and must hold greater significance, still she admired how this man was built…She quickly turned her gaze away to calm herself down as Carmine finished getting dressed, the last thing he put on was his helmet.

Carmine felt much better now that he had his armor on again, it felt like he went home and it was good to be back. Once inside the vault Carmine checked all the area's while Kasumi looked around using her scanner, she honed in on the treasure she was looking for.

"Oh my god this is it." Kasumi said excitedly, as she tried to access its contents however a booming voice came over the area as Hock's hologram head appeared.

"Don't bother Miss Goto, its code locked….I had a feeling that was you at the door, I knew if it was really you you'd get through anyway."

"You know me…I don't like to disappoint." Kasumi stated with a smile

"I need what's in your greybox Kasumi, you know I'm willing to kill you for it. Ill admit your skills are impressive you got into my vault like I had left it open." Carmine inched his way over to a vase as Hock kept talking and pointed and Shot though he didn't expect the structures to be so weak, his one bullet destroyed the vase in front of him, an Egyptian head, and A small tablet. Much to Hock's annoyance and displeasure Carmine looked up at the giant head.

"Have I got your attention now fuck face?" Carmine just got an angry look form Hock.

"KILL THEM!" he nearly screamed as Gaurds flooded the room, they didn't expect anything carmine brought though because as soon as they tried to fire Carmine destroyed them only wasting one clip of his Lancer.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Helicopter pad outside Hock's mansion

After laying waste to all of the men Hock had a small gunship appeard in the sky hock inside it.

"I tried to offer you the easy Kasumi, now Ill show you the hard way!" Kasumi looked at carmine who held up the boom shot in his hands.

"After you Carmine." Kasumi said bowing and stepping back, Carmine smiled under his helmet and aimed the large gun at Hock.

"You think that toy can hurt my shields? Ha! You are sorely underestimate me Mr. Fenix."

"Hey Hock! Jam this up your ass!" Carmine yelled firing the massive grenade, as it touched the gunship it destroyed half the ship on contact as it fell to the ocean exploading on impact.

"Well Carmine, your destructive, Charismatic and incredibly strong…Glad you're not my enemy I would have run for the hills." Kasumi joked as they boarded the Shuttle to take them back to the Normandy.

Kasumi activated the greybox while Carmine waited, he looked out the window at the empty void of space before looking at Kasumi, she was indeed a beautiful woman he had to admit even if she dressed like a ninja. Until he noticed a single tear fall down her face, when she looked up again she looked at him with watery eyes.

"Keji wants me to destroy his memories which holds the information in it."

"Is…that what you want?" Carmine asked trying to sound supportive

"I…will destroy the greybox. Keji and I had a good run, but I think its time I moved on…I loved him, and I will never forget him. But I cant live in the past either. You know the saying right, the needs of many outweigh the needs of few." Carmine nodded and didn't expect what happened next. Kasumi walked up to him and gave him a hug.

"Thank you….for helping get this out of the way Carmine, I owe you a lot." She said smiling up at him. Carmine rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"It wasn't any trouble Kasumi…I was just happy to help that's all." She giggled and sat down Carmine doing the same. The rest of the shuttle ride was quite, As they boarded the Normandy Carmine was stopped by a Shepard who asked how the mission went. Carmine nodded signifying it went well as did Kasumi. Sam had been on the same floor and noticed how Kasumi flirted with Carmine, Normally she wouldn't care. But something inside her chest told her Carmine was in trouble…she didn't know what yet but she wasn't about to let this Kasumi or anyone take Carmine from her.

Was this jealousy? Sam didn't know but she knew that seeing Carmine with Kasumi aggravated her to no end, in the back of her head subconsciously Sam was becoming more and more attracted to Carmine and Kasumi was now a threat. Shaking her head she headed to the crew quarters to her room.

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**DUN DUN DUN drama on the horizon LOL, tell me what you all think and if I did a pretty good job at doing what I did. Not too much action in this one anyway…sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed, I did my best..anyway please review and Ill update again tomarrow either before or after work. Like I said depends but don't worry you wont have to wait long to see more chapters coming. ICEGOD out**


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright guys im back with chapter 10, I would have got it out last night but work is a killer when it comes to making fanfics, anyway this chapter is more like the last chapter only this time I will be focusing on having interactions with the crew and the gears, specificly the rivalry that seems to develop between kasumi and sam. I wont spoil who gets with carmine but hey the journey is better than the destination. Haha anyway enough gabbing outta me on with the show, I don't own gears of war or mass effect.**

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Chapter 10: Gears keep things turning

It had been two days now since the gears arrived on Shepards ship, she didn't particularly mind if it wasn't for the fact they refused to go on a collection mission to hunt for artifacts they may find usefull. She was lucky Baird was the only gear on the ship willing to go exploring, he seemed to love the idea of hunting for things of interest. Sam always made the comment how he was in a nerd's paradise…Shepard had to chuckle at that one, the tall woman had a point. Anytime she saw Baird he was always talking with either Mordin or Tali, either working on ways to improve the counter measure with Mordin, or talking mechanics with Tali. Mordin always seemed happy to use Baird as a soundboard for any ideas he had about the collectors and anytime she saw Tali with him, the girl always seemed excited to hear about his stories from his world and the mechanics. Things had become very lively on the Normandy and honestly Shepard wouldn't want it any other way, sure these gears had destructive skills but they were over all a friendly bunch. Shepard walked into the CIC when she was stopped by Kelly chambers who was having a rather active chat with Cole.

"Oh commander, Cole here was telling me how back home before their war he was a sports star." Kelly said smiling. While cole beamed with pride, about his days playing thrashball. Shepard folded her arms across her chest cocking her head to the side.

"Really? I take it you must have been pretty good at sports then cole…what was the sport called?"

"Thrash ball, ohoho man you would have loved it…the lights the action, man it was just another day for the cole train…NUMBER 83 THE COOOOLLLLLEEE TRAIN! WOOOO!" the crew on the deck simply smiled and laughed, they could never seem to have a bad day when Cole was around. His cheery attitude was just too over powering for anyone to be depressed.

"I won so many games, they actually made a statue of me infront of my home town stadium. Man I loved it…not the fame though baby, I just loved the sport so much I couldn't stop playing…well at least I wouldn't of if wasn't for that war that went on. But hey its all in the past." Cole said smiling. Kelly smiled as well.

"I have to admit commander I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when you brought the gears on board, but after talking with everyone I have to be honest Im glad they are on our side fighting to help humanity." Kelly said with a smile.

"What do you think of the other gears Kelly?" Shepard asked.

"Well you already know my opinion on carmine, Baird is defiantly a genius in his own right…he has so many ideas and theories sometimes I think he might as well be another professor mordin, Tali defiantly seems to like him. Cole here is a pleasure to bring around, its just hard to be sad or even mad or anything else. He's always so happy its contagious."

"Hey hey baby, when the Cole train's around it's a party everyday of the week haha." Cole said felxing his arms a bit causing Kelly to blush a bit.

"Anyway as for Sam, she seems to be the more serious one of the group but I imagine that when you've had to fight a war for so long it can tend to take the tenderness from you…I have noticed she watches Carmine like a sort of Hawk. She and Kasumi haven't really been getting along, well on the surface they do but as soon as Carmine comes up they give each other rival stares almost."

"Ahh that's just sam being sam…she doesn't wanna admit it but I could tell back when we were at home that she always had a thing for Carmine. She was always supportive of the guy…don't worry commander She won't do anything rash…sams a gear, and a good one at that." Cole added in.

"Other than that commander I actually am glad to have Cole and his friends on board…their views and perspective on the situation is so simple yet it's also so sound and determined. I wish there were more people like them around. There like brothers and sisters looking out for one another…and besides Cole here is such a big sweat heart despite how he looks." Cole smiled, Shepard was glad these two were getting along. She nodded and walked to the elevator to see how everyone else was getting along with her new squad mates. In shepards mind however she knew they would be a good bunch, her main concern however was Miranda…ever since the gears openly refused to work for the illusive man she had been in a sour mood all damn day. She would have to try and fix that as soon as possible.

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Deck 3, 4 minutes later

As shepard exited the elevator she was surprised that it was relatively quiet, walking over to see Garrus she was surprised when she saw him sitting on a chair talking with sam. Garrus was looking over one of her guns and whistled.

"It's no wonder you and Carmine did so well against the Geth and Collectors sam…this weapons doesn't have any element zero or fires any projectiles im aware of. Whats exactly were you guys fighting back in your world that you needed such big bullets?" Garrus asked curiously. Sam was chewing on a toothpick.

"We were fighting a horde of monsters called Locust, ugly buggers if you ask me. Stupid as fuck and damn near impossible to kill, their armor was as tough as ours but they also had an advantage we didn't. Their skin was incredibly tough, if you went into a fight Garrus you would have died 2 seconds in." She said leaning her head back on the desk in boredom.

"Hold on your saying that I couldn't of even stood a chance with one of the locust?" Garrus asked

"Not with the plastic toys you call weapon, see where I come from it was either slaughter your enemy or get slaughtered yourself. And the locust defiantly slaughtered us…they'd even rip off one of your arms and beat you to death with it…if you didn't bleed out first that is." Garrus scratched the side of his face in thought about what it would be like to fight such creatures; it was already hard enough to deal with a collector. So it was possible sam was right about how the locust could possibly be worse than even a reaper.

"I see you two are getting along." Shepard said deciding to let them know she was in the room.

"Ah commander, I was having a discussion with sam about ways we could possibly incorporate some of their tech into our own weapons but these guns are as ancient before my race even mastered flight." Shepard picked up the lancer and despite how heavy it was it didn't show any advance tech at all. It was actually the opposite and resembled guns made in the past during World War 2 in her world, but it was the size that was impressive.

"Well of course Chicken head…our guns didn't need any of that fancy space mumbo jumbo; if it could kill then it worked. Besides we never mastered space flight we were too busy trying to figure out how to kill the next grub that came alone, if it wanted to kill us we made sure to kill it first." Sam said as she stretched.

The Normandy had provided civilian cloths for Carmine and did the same for Sam and the others, however when she was out of her armor Shepard could tell that guys in her world must have thought she was a looker. A long sleek figure with long legs and a well built form, Shepard guessed that her chest had to have been at least a c cup…of course compared to the humans of the Alliance they may as well have been F cups. Shepard actually felt a little embarrassed at her own chest size. She thought about what cole said and could tell the woman was very agitated whenever Kasumi was near Carmine. Perhaps cole was right. Sam must really care for Carmine.

"Hey sam mind if I ask you something?" Shepard asked

"Sure whats up?" Sam didn't even look towards Sam, she seemed a little reserved for a soldier only wanting to really open up to her fellow gears. Maybe she could gain her trust in the future.

"Do you and carmine have a thing for each other?" Shepard was actually surprised when the woman almost fell out of her chair, Garrus just chuckling a bit. When she looked at shepard she had a serious look on her face but even if she tried to look intimidating the woman couldn't hide the massive blush on her face.

"N..no me and carmine don't have a thing for each other." Shepard decided to pull some strings.

"Oh well then I guess I can tell Kasumi she's got the all clear to seduce Carmine then….She's been telling me how she wants his babies."

"HELL NO THOSE NADS ARE MINE!" the silence in the room was so thick a pin could drop and it would make as much noise as a gun being fired. The blush covering sams face only got redder as the the blush actually looked like it was now covering her whole body. Shepard let out a massive toothy grin and Sam suddenly realized she had just been played like a harp; Garrus was despratly trying to hold in a laugh almost at his limit.

"D…don't you dare fucking say a fucking word to him, or Ill kill you myself!" Sam said wanting to keep her secret…secret.

"Don't worry Sam your secret's safe with me." Shepard walked out as Garrus started laughing his butt of only for his laugh to be followed by a painfull scream as Shepard could hear sam kicking his ass for him laughing at her. Well Kelly was right about sam, the woman had deep feelings for Carmine. But she wondered about Kasumi, shaking her head she decided to see what that one felt. Walking into the master thief's room she spotted Kasumi reading an article about how to seduce a hard to get man on her Omni-tool. Shaking her head she sat down next to her on the sofa.

"Ah shepard I'm glad you're here I wanted to speak to you."

"About what exactly?"

"It's about Carmine…do you think he likes Japanese girls with a talent for kleptomania?"

"Im not sure Kasumi, you would have to ask him…why all the interest in Carmine, you could always go for other guys. Doesn't have to be the guys from another dimension."

"Well its not that he's from another dimension shepard…Carmine is, well he's one of those rare guys you don't normally see. Strong, Charasmatic…kind…gentle…even his eyes are fun to look at." Shepard was now curious and wanted to find out what would happen if she didn't get Carmine or if she did.

"Kasumi…what will you do if you actually managed to get Carmine as your own?" She seemed to be in thought for a moment before finally answering.

"Well as soon as I've had my fun being a master thief and once we're done with the Collectors, I was actually thinking about maybe starting a family. I know it sounds silly, but I honestly think Carmine could be one of those great guys who would make a wonderful father.

"And if you don't get him?" Kasumi's head visibly sank a bit.

"Well…if I can't have Carmine I suppose there's always Jacob. The man's very nice, and just…mmmmm" She sounded like she just tasted the greatest cookie in galaxy.

"Well glad to know you have a backup plan."

"Of course shepard, I'm a thief after all…I have to have a fall back plan incase my first one didn't work." Shepard nodded before leaving, this was defiantly more drama than she was used to, here were two women who had a major thing for Carmine. One was a master thief who could steal anything you could think of, while the other was a full blown power house that could destroy anything she wanted to. She'd have to keep an eye on those two for safety reasons.

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Miranda's office

Shepard walked in to a very angry Miranda who looked like she had been through hell, sitting down shepard leaned back in the chair.

"Miranda you look like a mess…something on your mind?" Shepard asked concerned her second in command might do something stupid.

"Shepard, im just…I have never been flat out rejected like that? Sure I've given people the option to say no though they usually don't…but I didn't even get to explain my situation to them and they flat out said no."

"I don't see a problem Miranda…they did make their decision after all so why so hung up on it?"

Miranda looked visibly deflated as she rubbed the sides of her head out of frustration. Shepard kept her thoughts to herlself although she found the situation funny.

"Miranda don't let it get to you alright, so they said no…big deal. I don't trust Cerberus but here I am working with you to stop the Collectors, and the others said they would do the same. So just take what you can get and be happy with it…think of it this way, least their guns aren't pointed at you." Miranda looked up at shepard and gave her a faint smile.

"Thanks shepard, sigh…your right. The collectors are our biggest problem right now, and if Carmine and his buddies are willing to help us with our mission then I won't complain."

"Ill see you later Miranda." Shepard said walking out of her office, getting into the elevator. She only had one other person to check on and that was Baird. She had seen his reaction and figured she had to make sure the man wasn't getting into any trouble.

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Engineering deck

As shepard was about to head to engineering she was stopped by jack was waved her down to her room. Shepard thought this was odd and proceeded down to jacks room, the woman normally wasn't one for conversation.

"Whats up jack? Something on your mind?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah…its about those guys you picked up, the gears."

"What is it?...you don't trust them?" Shepard asked

"Nah that aint it…I trust em more than Cerberus that's for sure."

"So what is it about then? Not sure they'll handle the mission?"

"Are you kidding?...those guys could tear through A collector base with no problem what so ever, I actually wouldn't wanna face down those guys in any kind of fire fight. Especially not their entire army."

"Why not jack?...your supposed to the queen bitch remember, the psychotic biotic that can destroy anything." Jack was pacing around the room and smiled a little from Shepards attempt at cheering her up but she had to let shepard know.

"Shepard…biotics don't work on them."

"Whaddya mean jack…biotics work on everyone no matter who you are."

"No not what I mean…i….I challenged Cole, the Guy whos like Carmine?...the big one…I asked him to spar with me to a fist fight ya know. Just so I could see how he fights up close and personal, Shepard these guys ignore the laws of Biotics."

"Tell me about it jack…something I need to know?"

"Okay…Cole charged at me with everything he had right?...well naturally I tried throwing him back with a warp field and he plowed right through it and right through me, I saw that warp field hit him shepard, and it just bounced off him like it didn't even matter. Shepard those gears are tough, I mean super tough…Shit." Jack finally sat down with a plop onto her bed, Shepard leaned against the wall looking over jack.

"You okay?"

"Yeah im fine, its just…I've never met anyone like that who took the strongest thing I had and tossed it aside like I was just throwing a pebble at them. I tell you shepard, in all honesty…I do not want to be on their bad side."

"you and me both…I've seen firsthand the carnage their capable of…makes the Krogan seem tame." Shepard said thinking more about Carmine and his friends. Shepard made her goodbyes and left heading for the engine room, upon opening the doors she found Tali, Kenneth and gabby huddled around Baird as he looked like he was fixing something.

Getting closer she looked over their shoulders and noticed Baird was inside the console Tali normally worked on, as He grabbed a few tools and torches everyone was amazed as suddenly the panel's screens not only got brighter they seemed to be working faster.

"There ya go, maximum capacity output should be better now, and thanks to my genius this console along with everything in this room now runs as smooth as a babies bottom." Baird said smiling.

"Baird that was amazing." Tali said.

"Hey no problem, Im still trying to figure out what to do about your suite but I figure since Im going to be here for a while I can get you healthy to the point you don't even need that helmet." Tali's eyes grew wide behind her visor.

"Baird you could really do that?"

"Hey come on…if it's technical and has a function I can fix it or repair it." Well shepard didn't expect that but didn't even need to say anything, what she did notice however was Tali's obvious flirting with Baird. She always knew tali was attracted to the smart type, good for her. Baird looked like a good person, if at times a bit too curious about things. She was even surprised when the girl openly hugged the man and caused him to blush a bit. Shepard quietly left before they realized she was there.

Things were going to be interesting from now on…and hopefully just hopefully. The reapers will have something to fear for once.

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**Alright guys sorry this chapter was a bit rushed, work is kicking my ass…anyway I did my best at having casual interactions between gears and Cerberus….but im more used to just straight up fighting scenes…anyway let me know how I did. Ill be trying to upload another chapter tomarrow or Saturday if possible. Like I said work schedual is hectic right now LOL. I look forward to your reviews…and be sure to tell your friends about the story…because I have big plans for this story I even plan on doing a sequal that continues into mass effect 3…anyway I may even do a fancomic based on this story if you like that idea let me know, I enjoy reading your reviews and any PM's I get I read and respond to as best I can…and if you have an idea for a story and want help or just a good soundboard for ideas hit me up LOL anyway ICEGOD out**


	11. Chapter 11

**Well hello again my dear and valued readers, sorry it took me a while to update this story, work has been a killer. Finally got a day off today and Sunday so ill be updating as much as I can today and Sunday LOL anyway many people like the pairings I came up with and are impressed with how I am doing this story, I love getting so many reviews and I read them over and over again. You all really inspire me to keep up this story and I appreciate you all for sticking with me and reading such a great story. Pairings are as follows, Carmine/Sam, Tali/Baird, Kelly/Cole. I was thinking about pairing Shepard with one of those gears you get to play as in the game…only Id just make up some random OC for that one. LOl anyway im going to be making this story into a fan comic so let me know in your reviews or PM me if you think this would be a fantastic idea and wanna give me your thoughts or opinions. Anyway I don't own mass effect or gears of war but I wish I did.**

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Chapter 11: Welcome to the gears

Everyone was beginning to notice a change in shepard, the Cerberus crew always knew shepard was the open and caring type to care about the welfare of her crew. That much was a given, but towards her enemies something in her personality was changing. Shepard was normally a pace talker and even if she did something bold it was with good reason. Now whenever she was with an enemy that wouldn't be reasoned with she threw talking straight out the door and gunned them down. When Kelly tried to bring it up Cole simply laughed.

"What's so funny cole?" Kelly asked the big man

"Shepards slowly becoming a gear."

"A gear?"

"Yeah, we gears we kinda stick together ya know…we care about one another but when it come to the bad guys like those collector freaks, there's only one thing we know how to do. And were damn good at it. We go in and we fuck shit up."

"That seems a bit harsh don't you think?"

"Do you think the collectors need any mercy given what they've been doing to us?" Cole asked, after thinking about it more Kelly could see why Cole thought the way he did. Kelly decided to go and talk to joker, she rarely ever talked to the man but she wanted to hear his opinion of Carmine and his friends. Stepping into the cockpit she casually stood there for a moment as Joker's chair slowly turned around.

"Hey Kelly something up?" Joker asked

"Joker…mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure go ahead."

"What do you think about Carmine and his companions?"

Joker shifted in his chair for a moment as if thinking about what to say, he had met them before but only to get introductions out of the way, from what he could tell the guys were huge bigger than even Grunt. Which he didn't think could be possible, but it was better they were their side then the Collectors.

"Well Carmine is okay I mean he's got his rough points but Shepard seems to like hanging around him, they kinda seem to have that brother sister bond. Cole is just plain funny I mean I love how happy the guy is, makes even bad days seem like its all sunshine and bunnies. Baird, well…bairds kinda like mordin only he's not a dick about it…well not too much of one anyway.

I can tell Tali really likes the guy I mean really likes the guy. As for Sam, well I mean come one the woman's hot…have you seen that body? But She's pretty much Carmine's woman at this point since shes always around they guy…course doesn't mean I can't look, defiantly has a nice bounce to her. Its just my opinion though there's no need to go spreadin it around."

"Thank you Joker…your view on the gears is very opinionated." Kelly smiled and walked away , Walking back to her console Kelly went back to her own thoughts. One day she would have to go to Cole's home and see what it was like there.

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Normandy Crew deck

Miranda had walked out of her office to see everyone on that deck heading towards the elevator, tilting her head she decided to see what the commotion was about when she spotted Garrus deciding to have a word with him.

"Hey garrus whats going on? Wheres everyone going in such a rush?" she asked

"Its shepard, apparently there's going to be a show going on in the cargo hold involving her and grunt everyone's going to see the action." This peaked Miranda's curiosity as she casually waited for the elevator to arrive. She overheard some of the crew speaking.

"Hey did you hear, I hear shepards going to become an honorary gear?" one man said

"A gear? What that's?" the woman he was talking to asked back.

"I don't know but whatever it is it must be important since she's pretty excited about it."

Miranda was now extremely curious about this new info, was it possible shepard found a new way she wasn't aware of to take down the collectors.

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Normandy Cargo hold 3 minutes later.

As Miranda stepped out of the elevator she was followed by Garrus only to be greeted by a large crowed, pushing past several people Miranda was greeted by a sight she hadn't expected nor garrus. Apparently modesty was thrown out the door for Shepard. Before Miranda sat shepard with Sam on one side of her and on the other Carmine, she was only wearing a pair of pants and her normal boots but from the waist up nothing at all. Miranda had a clear view of Shepard's exposed breasts rubbed the bridge of her nose. Modesty was never too big of an issue but this was not what Miranda expected, Carmine was tattooing something on Shepards back, many of the men were both intrigued and turned on at the site. They were curious as to what Carmine was tattooing onto their commander's back, but turned on because they were graced with the sight of Shepards bare breasts. Miranda's headache only grew bigger because Sam wasn't anybetter. The woman was wearing cargo pants like shepard but her top was very loose fitting and she was obviously wearing no bra.

The humans in Carmine's world must have not thought of the common bra and it annoyed Miranda even more. Garrus on the other hand was more curious about the tattoo being painted onto Shepards back.

Finally after a few more minutes the ritual was done as Shepard stood up and stretched. Sam held up a mirror and Shepard faced the mirror on her back she now bore a tattoo similar to Carmines. A sword with a Cog gear as its halo, two angelic wings strutting from the guard of the sword. With a Skull adorned as its center piece on the Skull was the N7 logo with two Dog tags hanging from the wings. Her name and Carmines'. Shepard smiled big and turned to sam and gave her a hardy hand shake while giving Carmine a hug. Putting on her bra and t-shirt much to the men's annoyance she Stood before Baird, Carmine and Sam as they patted her on the shoulder.

"Commander Shepard, as of today you are now one of us…welcome to the Gears." Baird said with a nod and a smile on his face. Sam smiled proudly while Carmine ruffled Shepard's hair.

"Way to go squirt…welcome to the family kid, you'll make a fine Gear." Carmine said with a proud smile on his face.

"Thanks big guy." Shepard replied with a chuckle.

"My turn." Grunt commented Walking up and sitting down where Shepard previously sat. the Normal tattooing wouldn't work on Grunts Plates so instead he insisted he would rather have his mark be engraved on his plates especially the forehead plate.

An hour later as Baird finished He dropped his Knife and small hammer and stepped back admiring his work, on Grunts head he now wore proudly a dagger on his face with two guns in an X shape behind the blade. The Guns barrels facing downward as a small trail left the barrels and crossed over each of Grunts blue eyes giving him a more sinister look.

"Congrats Grunt, you're also one of us now."

Grunt stood up and smiled, and looked at the Gears.

"I am a gear, the first Krogan gear…when I find my own clan and when I find my own Krant. I will bear the clan name first, but in my mind I know that I will always be a gear. Ha our enemies should be even more afraid now." Grunt said smashing his fists together.

As one final gift Carmine stood before Shepard as she looked up at the man with a proud look on her face that made everyone in the room see her in a new light. As Carmine took the gift from Sam he turned back to shepard and held in his hands her very own Lancer. Smaller in size compared to Carmines but it was outfitted to be specially designed for her. The gun had a metallic finish with blue lines running from the stock to the barrel giving it an odd mesmerizing glow, the Chainsaw's teeth were sharp and ready to be used on its next kill. Shepard took it and smiled even more when she received a proud nod from Carmine. Walking next to grunt Carmine held out a new shot gun for Grunt, it had a triple Barrel and on its ends three blades that could be used to destroy whomever he brought its nasty claws on. Grunt nodded to carmine.

The entire crew was in awe, Shepard no longer looked like the human specter that had saved the citadel and stopped sovereign, now she looked like she had done battle with Satan himself and come out on top. The crew respected the commander even more than before now. Even jack who had tattoos covering most of her body was jealous of Shepard's tattoos. Jack's tattoos had often been there to represent something that happened in her life, but the tattoo that shepard now wore proudly on her back signified something so sacred that it made her jealous of how lucky Shepard was.

As the crew left Shepard stayed behind to chat when the other members of Shepards squad came to voice their opinion. Garrus was the first to voice his opinion, the first subject being about the gun.

"Okay, I gotta know, you made a miniature version of your gun for Shepard…why?" Carmine looked down at Shepard then started to speak.

"Shepard is someone I can trust with my life like my friends…shes very special to me and I had baird make this special gun for her as a way of showing her that no matter where she is, the Gears always have her back." Sam and Baird nodded.

"What I wanna know is what is with the tattoo?" Miranda asked in an almost angry tone.

"Aww whats the matter? The Cerberus cheerleader because it's not Cerberus tattooed on her back?" jack added in with a laugh.

"This is something I wanted to do Miranda, I told Carmine I wanted to be a gear like he was. Whatever training he had not only destroys my N7 training…it makes it look like a baby could do it. Im doing this because I respect Carmine as a soldier and I want to be what he is, after all I've seen Carmine in action, there are no enhancements no nothing. What carmine and the others are…they are that way because they all worked hard to get where they are." Shepard said, it was true the Gears were in a league all their own, the collectors might as well have been paper to them Shepard even began to wonder if the reapers would have even had a chance in Carmine's world. She almost didn't want to admit it but even she had to agree that not a whole lot could stop Carmine and his friends.

"No matter where they came from or who they've fought this bunch is the picture of what it means to be a true soldier." Grunt added looking over the group.

"I've seen firsthand how Carmine and his Krant fight, and I've also seen how devastating their weapons are, I was bred to be the perfect Warrior and Carmine is an example of how his people will be a worthy adversary to the Krogan. As well as a formidable Ally."

Zaeed and Kasumi looked at each other and kept silent, Zaeed was a veteran mercenary who had seen all kinds of action in his time. But he knew whatever Carmine had seen was much much worse.

"Commander the illusive man want's to speak with you in the com room." EDI's voice called over the intercom.

"I'll be right there EDI." As shepard left for the com room everyone else in the room dispersed however everyone was surprised as just before sam left she got a yelp from Carmine after giving his butt a firm squeeze smiling before walking away swaying her hips as seductively as possible.

Cole and baird immediately began laughing and followed sam leaving Grunt and Carmine alone in the Cargo bay, Carmine looked at Grunt who only got a chuckle from the Krogan before Grunt walked back to his side of the room.

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Normandy Briefing room 4 minutes later

As the scanner finished its read out Shepard was surprised to see the Illusive man actually out of his chair, you would have thought the man's ass was glued to it. As he took a puff on his cigarette he look at the hologram of Shepard.

"Shepard…we may have caught a break I intercepted a distress call from a turian patrol. They stumbled onto a collector ship outside the Korlus system. The Turians were wiped out but not before they crippled the Collector vessel. I want you to board that ship and get some hard data on the Collectors. Find us a way to get to their homeworld."

"Hard to imagine how a Turian patrol could take out a Collector ship."

"Reports indicate the hauls intact but all systems seem to be offline, there probably making repairs as we speak. Im not saying it won't be dangerous, but we can't let a chance like this slip by."

"If they had a patrol out there why aren't the Turian's sending a recon team in?"

"They will. Eventually, but I intercepted the transmission…in the meantime were feeding them false reports. Your close enough that you can be in and out before the Turians learn the truth."

"Your sure this information's good?"

"Information is my weapon shepard, its good."

"Send me the coordinates and Ill take care of it."

"Already sent…Once your aboard the ship establish an uplink with EDI, shell mine their data regarding information about the Omega 4 relay…good luck shepard."

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20 minutes later

As the Normandy flew through the darkness of space the Collectors ship soon came into view.

"Very low emissions, passive inferred temperatures suggest most systems are offline…the thrusters are cold." EDI stated

"That thing is massive….how the hell did the turians take it out?" Joker asked shepard.

"Radar scans do not detect any haul breaches on the side facing us, I detect no mass effect field distortions it appears the drive core is off line"

"Rendezvous in 30 seconds commander good luck." Shepard nodded and left the cockpit.

Searching for a way into the ship the Normandy's lights shown on a small opening big enough for just a shuttle, as she geared up she asked Baird and Tali to go with her much to Carmine's disapproval about letting Shepard out of his sight she made sure to promise that she would be safe. Loading into the shuttle Shepard Tali and Baird headed out, Baird wasn't too comfortable wearing a helmet but wore one anyway since he knew he wouldn't be able to breathe without it. As the shuttle approached its doors and made its land, the doors opened and the crew stepped out. Baird was instantly on guard.

"I have never seen a ship like this before….looks like a giant insect hive." Tali said a bit nervous

"this is my first time seeing another ship at all, aside from the Normandy that is." Baird added in. she was right the ship looked like a giant hive and it reminded baird too much of the Locust stronghold underground, it spooked him a bit.

"Penetrating scans have detected an access nod to uplink with collector databanks." EDI said over the radio. Marking location to your hard suit computer shepard."

As the group moved on Baird took notice of how the ship itself looked, parts of it were covered in metal, but the rest of it looked as if the whole ship itself was alive. It unnerved him even further than he already was. A good 5 minutes of walking went on and no one said anything until EDI broke the silence.

"Shepard, I have compared the shipts EM's signatures to known collector profiles. It is the vessel you encountered on Horizon."

"Maybe the defense towers softened it for the Turians."

"If that's right then we may just be able to find other humans from the colony here." Tali added.

"Unless there you know….dead." Baird said in a grim tone. The group continued on Tali got spooked at one point and even latched herself onto Baird's arm.

"Hey you alright?" Baird asked looking down at the small quarian.

"Uhh yeah, I just got a little spooked Im fine now." Tali said, she was glad her helmet could hide her blush so well.

"Don't worry about it….I've got your back." Baird said flashing her a grin that calmed tali down a bit.

The ship leaked and creeked and was a perfect set up for anything scary in bairds mind, until they came across something that almost made baird loose his lunch if he wasn't already used to seeing the dead.

Walking up to a large pile of dead bodies Tali heeved a bit in her suite but kept herself from vomiting while Baird shook his head.

"What happened here?" Tali asked

"I don't know, but whatever happened I do not want to end up like that." Baird said

"Don't worry Baird you won't, I have your back." Tali said with a calming smile

"Thanks Tali."

"These people must have been a control group, if that's the case then they were just discarded after the experiments." Baird said in an annoyed tone.

"There are worse things than death…like being a test subject for twisted aliens." Shepard said in an angry tone.

"Couldn't agree more shepard…like carmine would say, these grubs have got to die." Baird chimed in.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Normandy ship Cargo hold Carmine and other gears.

Carmine leaned against the wall his arms folded as Sam paced around the room in obvious discomfort. Cole was messing around with a few of the lancer bullets, the feel of something solid in his hands made him always feel better.

"I don't like this." Sam said still pacing around

"I don't like it anymore than you do." Carmine said keeping his eyes closed as if in deep thought.

"What I don't understand is if that Collector ship is offline or whatever, Why don't we just open fire and destroy the damn thing?"

"That's not our call to make sam, this is Shepard's ship and shes in command besides she's looking for Something on that ship. We're just going to have to trust her on this one." Carmine said

"Why are we even running recon on this thing anyway it just makes more sense to just kill the grubs and be done with it."

"Because we're going to be attacking their home base…from what I gather were gonna hit the place the collectors come from and destroy it."

"WITH WHAT?" sam was getting loud now

"What do we plan on fighting the Collectors with anyway? One ship a handful of crew and the four of us? No offense but one ship isn't going to make a dent in a planet!" Sam said walking around in circles now.

"aw come on sam, Delta has been through way worse than this…remember when we had to deal with all them Glowies back home?" Cole said trying to lighten the mood

"That was different Cole, we had back up if necessary…we had a raven that could give us air support…we weren't fucking outnumbered like we are now."

"Maybe not, but we were also outnumbered then too…the locust had numbers we didn't and so did the Lambent if you think about it Shepard's situation is no different than ours was back home. Besides no matter what has happened we've always come out on top." Carmine said lowering the volume in the room.

"Yeah but." Sam was cut off again by Cole

"Sam we already know whats going on and we worry about it too…but me and carmine look at the bright side of this situation. These grubs are used to fighting people like shepard, they aint used to fighting us." Cole said, Carmine opened his eyes and stood straight up and walked to the two.

"That's right…we are delta squad, we are gears…and wether its locust or lambent or even fucking Collectors we go in and we kick ass. That's what we do it's what we've always done as soldiers, not for the COG but for humanity as a species." Carmine earned a hoorah out of Sam and Cole.

"When we hit the collector homeworld were gonna bring not only death to them but were gonna show em that you don't mess with the gears without suffering in hell first!"

"HOORAH!" Sam and cole yelled out as the three smashed their fists together in unison.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Collector ship 10 minutes later

As the recon group entered another room they were greeted with a sight they didn't like, it looked like a giant beehive almost.

"Look on the ceiling more of those strange pods." Tali said looking up.

"Jesus…there's gotta be hundreds up there…I can't even begin to think of how many of them are full." Baird said almost in awe.

"Too many." Shepard responded

"I detect no signs of life shepard, it is porbable the victims all died when pimary power failed in the ship." Another reason to kill the collectors Sheard thought as she pressed forward, however she didn't even get five feet when Joker came on over the radio.

"Commander you gotta hear this, on a hunch I asked EDI to run an analysis on the ship."

"I compared the EM profile against data recorded by the previous Normandy two years ago. They are an exact match."

"The same ship dogging me for two years? Way beyond coincidence." Shepard said annoyed now

"Something doesn't add up commander, watch your back." Joker said with concern.

The group pressed forward walking, Shepard was actually getting sick of all the quiet and noiseless rooms she was entering, why hadn't they found a single dead or alive collector yet. Untill she entered a much more bigger and more disturbing room. The circular room had walls filled to the brim with empty pods.

"That's…disturbingly big." Baird said.

"They could take every human in the Terminus systems and still not have enough to fill all these pods…there going to target Earth."

"Not if we stop them." Shepard said reassuring the others.

As They pressed forward Tali spotted something that could help them gain what they need.

"Look there on the platform looks like some kind of control panel." As they approached Baird finally voiced what shepard had thought earlier.

"This is too weird, why aren't we seeing any dead collectors or even live Collectors…this ship is almost like a freakin ghost town."

As shepard neared the panel he activated his OMNI-tool and summoned EDI on his radio.

"EDI, im setting up a bridge between you and the collector ship. See if you can get anything usefull from the databanks." Shepard said as she tapped on her OMNI-tool a little.

"Data mine in progress shepard." However only a few seconds went by when the machine flaired causing shepard to step back a bit as the tubes around them began to move.

"Joker were alright on this end but what just happened?"

"Major power surge. Everything went dark but were back up now." Joker responded.

"I managed to divert the over load to non-critical systems." EDI called out, Baird looked over his shoulder looking in different directions.

"Shepard this was not a malfunction. This was a trap." Before shepard had a chance to react however the platform they stood on moved and launched itself into the air knocking everyone on their feet, as shepard held onto the control panel.

"We need a little help here EDI." Shepard said.

"I am having trouble maintaining connection. There is someone else in the system." As the platform stopped moving the group gained their footing again as shepard noticed several platforms flying towards them in the distance.

"Connection re-established shepard, however I will need to finish the download before I can override any systems."

"Then you better get it done fast EDI." Shepard said

"Incoming grubs!" Baird called out ducking into cover behind a few of the small walls on their platform. As the platforms landed or rather connected to Shepards, the collectors who had been riding them open fired on the small group, however they were not expecting baird this time. Holding up his lancer he open fired tearing through the collector bodies. Carmine was right when he had said killing them was easy, but like the locust they had numbers. Now was the time for shepard to test out her new toy.

Pulling out the new avenger she unloaded to custom rounds into the nearest collectors, it didn't do the same damage Baird's lancer did but she chalked that up to it being smaller in size compared to Carmine's and Bairds'. However the gun did do what Carmine said it would and tore through the Collector with little trouble, as the firefight continued Shepard was forced to keep her head down when she noticed Baird doing something with the OMNI-tool he was given.

"Baird what are you doing?" Shepard called out over the gun fire.

"A little test run…Tali deploy your combat drone." Baird said looking at telling getting a nod from her, Tali stood out from cover long enough to launch her Drone before Baird also stood up and activated his OMNI-tool. The result was the combat drone turning into a mini ship that was outfitted with two heavy machine guns and missles on its top. The thing looked like a small warship on steroids, as it floated forward it unloaded its ammunition bringing down the collectors Shields and barriers following up with its flam based missiles to set the vulnerable Collectors ablaze.

"Yeah I say that works great…good work tali." Baird said getting a smile from the girl.

"What the heck is that thing?" Shepard asked.

"A little project me and tali are working on together, say hello to our war machine." Baird said with a proud smile. Shepard nodded and returned fire on the collectors who were being pushed back thanks to Baird and Tali's little helper. As the firefight continued it finally came to a close with the last Collector falling to the might of war machine.

Walking back to the control panel EDI came back on over the radio.

"Shepard you must manually re-establish my link to the command console." Shepard pressed a few buttons on her omni-tool before EDI'S familiar image projected into the screen.

"I have regained control of the platform shepard."

"I knew you wouldn't let us down EDI."

"I always work at optimal capacity." Her image disappeared as the Platform rose again and flew off towards the exit.

"Did you get what we needed?" Shepard asked

"I found data that would help us successfully navigate the OMEGA-4 relay. I have also found the Turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The collectors were the source, it is unusual."

"Seem logical to me that would have sent the initial message as bait." Shepard said

"No it is unusual because Turian emergency Channels have secondary encryption. It is corrupted in the message. It is not possible the illusive man would think the distress call was genuine."

"Why are you so sure?"

"I found the anomaly was Cerberus detection protocols he wrote them."

"He knew it was a trap? Why would he send us into a trap?" Joker asked

"We don't have time to throw blame around well question him when were out." Shepard said

"Shepard this is Cerberus this is what they do." Tali said

"I don't know much about Cerberus but im inclined to agree with Tali on this one commander…its stupid to send your own people knowingly into a trap, im glad I declined his request to join him when I did." Tali nodded her agreement.

"Uh commander we got another problem, the collector ship is powering up. You need to get out of there before their weapons come online Im not loosing another Normandy." Joker called out

"I do not have full control of their systems, I will do what I can. I am sending coordinates for shuttle extraction." As the group began to run for it Baird called out to tali

"Tali how many drones can you spit out at a time?"

"Just one but with the upgrades I can put down two."

"Good do it I have an idea" As tali kep running she activated her omni tool and two drones appeared, As they appeared Baird activated his surprise just like before the drones morphed and became the war machines he and tali made earlier, only this time they merged making one large War machine, one drone acted as shields while the other was heavy weapons.

"There that should by us some time to get back to the Normandy" Baird called out as they kept running, along the way they still had to kill a few Husks and Collectors that were pouring in all around them, but the War machine did a lot of the work and was a huge help to the group. As they reached the shuttle they headed back to the Normandy just as the mega drone died.

As the Normandy dodged fire from the Collector ship EDI engaged the mass effect core and projected the ship to an unspecified location as Joker let out a sigh of relief that he didn't lose another ship he loved. Shepard patted him on the back and went to remove her gear. She was going to have a long conversation with the illusive man after the crap she just experienced.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**AND ANOTHER CHAPTER DONE, SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG BUT MAN WORK IS A KILLER…ANYWAY I LIKED THE WAY THIS CHAPTER TURNED OUT AND AS ALWAYS LEAVE ME ANYREVIEWS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THE STORY, INCLUDING ANY SUGGESTIONS YOU MAY WANNA SEE IN THE STORY. NO GUARANTEE ILL ADD IT BUT IF YOU HAD A TRULY GREAT IDEA I WILL BE SURE TO ADD IT IN, ANYWAY THANKS TO ALL MY LOYAL FANS WHO ARE MAKING THIS STORY WHAT IT IS…YOU GUYS READING THIS STORY AND GIVING ME REVIEWS ARE WHAT MAKE ME KEEP WRITING SO KEEP THOS REVIEWS COMING. ICEGOD out!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello guys today is my last day off so ima try and get this out to you as fast as I can without making it seem so damned short, anyway I am so glad so many people are reading my story. You are what make me keep writing such a good story, So I wanna thank all of you for reading the grub killer, its my first and so far best fanfic I've ever embarked on. And I wouldn't have gotten this far without you my loyal readers, I do read and respond to any PMS I get and I love reading the reviews I get though I do wish some of them were longer than simple good jobs and what not but im not complaining. Anyway the comic version of this fanfic will be up online soon you can look for it at either Deviant art or smackjeeves dot com. Just look for the title grub killer in the search bar and youll be fine…I think. Anyway on with the show, I DON'T OWN GEARS OF WAR OR MASS EFFECT though I wish I did.**

**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Chapter 12: the race called Gears

After having a few words of anger with the illusive man Shepard wanted to talk to someone, and although she always could talk to Kelly or Carmine there was one person she wanted to see. She had received an Email from him not too long ago and was so buy so almost forgot about it. She knew she was going to have to explain her actions sooner or later, gearing up she requested Joker to punch in coordinates for the citadel. Cole looked up from his spot next to Kelly, the woman just like sam was extreamly protective of the giant man, and even began helping Cole learn more and more about their world. From what Kelly had told her the planet Carmine and the others came from was far different than earth.

And then there was jack, she felt a little odd thinking about the small robot Baird carried around with him. In a way it acted like a drone but at the same time acted almost like an AI, even though Baird already explained they didn't have the time or resources to really develop an AI at all but for Baird. Jack was like his pet almost. She still sometimes got Jack the robot and jack the crazy biotic confused from time to time…it doesn't help when both have the same name.

"So were we off to commander?" Cole asked surprisingly curious, since shepard hadn't even said it was for a mission or anything.

"Im glad you asked cole…were going to the citadel."

"The cita what?"

"The citadel cole." Kelly said getting into the conversation.

"The citadel is the largest and biggest space station in the galaxy, every race of alien both human and non-human live their amongst each other. It where the council resides and where commander shepard first became a specter saving it." Kelly finished with a smile.

"wait wiat, so here grubs and people get along?" Cole asked scratching the back of his head.

"Sort of cole." Shepard said shrugging.

"Politics are still annoying, but there are some aliens that hate humans and think were just a bunch of upstarts…like the batarians."

"What are batarians?" Cole asked

"Butt ugly retards with fours eyes and face only a mother could love." Carmine said walking in standing on the other side of Shepard.

"You met one Carmine?" Cole asked crossing his arms in thought.

"Yeah, before I ran into shepard the fuckers kidnapped a guy who helped me figure out where the hell I was and were going to kill him…so I killed them first."

Cole chuckled, Carmine always was a shoot first ask questions never kinda guy and unlike the others he found it funny.

"Anyway were going to the citadel to talk with an old friend of mine, his name is Captain Anderson. He actually used to be in charge of this ship before he stepped down and gave me command. He's a good friend and I trust him, who knows perhaps hell believe your story about coming from a different galaxy. Though I doubt the council will, they'll probably just say im lying and that your just super soldiers or something." After she said that Carmine had a thought and remembered something Grunt had said about him and the others.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Flashback- Normandy Cargo hold 30 minutes ago.

Carmine looked at roommate and noticed he was spolishing the new shotgun he received with a passion. However something was eating away at carmine and he just had to ask the question.

"Hey Grunt, how come you always call me and the others gears and not humans like other aliens do?"

Grunt stopped looking at his gun before he looked up and set the gun down standing up.

"Because you and your krant do things Humans are too weak to do, you fight and you kill just like a Krogan and you fight was such a lethal blood lust no human could even be considered one of you. If it wasn't for the fact you and I are friends I would consider your kind the greatest enemy my race could ever hope to face. Your strong and tough hell you even take gunfire head on and don't even so much as flinch. So in my books Carmine you aren't human…no your something new."

"New?"

"Your race is a race I decided to call gears, not human or alien but a race of pure soldiers who act like a band of brothers. Asari, Turian, Salarian….not even humans would be a proper match up against you gears."

"What about the Krogan, they're pretty tough and from what I saw you fight damn good to."

"That's because Krogan are good at fighting, it's what we do best….and you are no different, you fight to protect and you fight to kill all who oppose your race. I like it, it makes me want to better myself as a Krogan."

"So then I take it your okay with the fact my friends and I are from a different dimension?"

"different deminsion or different planet it makes no difference to me…you are a gear and one of the best ive seen…if your race is anything like you. Then it's a race even the collectors and so called reapers should fear." Unknown to the two however they had no idea how much that would become true in the future.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

End flashback Normandy CIC.

Carmine looked at Shepard and Cole with a massive grin on his face, causing the other too to look at him curuiosly.

"Shepard is right that council or whatever it is wont want to believe that were from a different Dimension so well come up with a major lie…one that even they might have to belive."

The three crew men looked at each other before returning their gaze to carmine with sudden interest. Kelly being the more curious one spoke up first.

"What kind of lie did you have in mind Carmine?" Kelly asked, somehow she was excited about what mischief her new friends were going to cause. She normally didn't act like this but the way Carmine said it only meant that she didn't want to miss out on the party.

"Think about it physically in appearance we look human, but the things we do including how we fight and our weapons don't fit the norm for humans…thanks to grunt I've decided that we represent our race by calling ourselves something entirely new."

"Like what?" Shepard asked also curious what her new big brother had in mind. Somehow the thought of him being her big brother always put a smile on her face, she was an orphan back on earth but Clay always gave off that big brother aura whenever she was near him.

"We call ourselves Gears….not as a title like back home but as a race itself. The council will just think you encountered a new form of life they weren't aware of, and that could be because our technology doesn't use the tech Shepard and the rest of the galaxy has."

The others thought for a moment, shepard crossing her arms closing her eyes in thought while cole and Kelly looked at each other in thought for a moment. However a smile slowly began to creep across shepards face, it almost scared the crewmen. Shepard rarely sported a smile like this one, and it was so new that even people who have seen shepard smile would have thought the woman was thinking up something that was considered ethnically wrong.

Opening her eyes she looked at Carmine with a smile before nodding at him getting her approval about the idea.

"Alright clay, well go with that idea…honestly it sounds like a much better plan than anything I might have thought of, tell grunt the next time you see him to say thanks for that awesome idea." Turning her attention back to the Galaxy map she leaned on the desk that smile still on her face.

"Joker lets double time it to the Citadel….the council is going to love this one." She looked back at cole and carmine.

"Just don't be surprised if they try and ask for some kind of alliance as well as permission to look at your tech."

"Yeah I think with that one im gonna tell them what I told the illusive man." Shepard chuckled a bit remember how Carmine told the illusive man to take Miranda and go fuck himself.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Citadel 4 hours later.

As the Normandy docked Shepard knew she was going to have her hands full with this so called meeting and decided to bring Baird and Carmine along these two were her best bet for any kind of diplomatic solution, if possible she could go in drop her lie and get outta there. She never really liked politics but she did have to play by the books on this one. Floating next to baird was is so called assistance Jack, the thing was actually pretty neat it didn't talk but knew how to do almost anything and even had a cloaking device and a built in teaser in case anyone dangerous got too close. The thing was pretty cool, however the face baird made when he first set foot on the Citadel was priceless, he looked like he was visiting Disney world for the first time in his life. Though shepard wasn't sure if they had anything like that back where he came from, Clay on the other hand was wearing his helmet so she couldn't see his expression but by the way he kept looking in all directions only proved he was in awe as well.

"Alright guys remember this is the council so let's try and not snap their necks in frustration alright?" Shepard said walking towards the embassies. She didn't want Carmine or Baird to flip out when they finally met the Aliens that were basicly in charge of Citadel space.

"Alright guys I let the crew have some shore leave for a bit so while were busy with the council I told Garrus to give the others gears a tour of the citadel…after we get this over with well get back to stomping out the collectors." The two men nodded.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx

Human embassy office 23 minutes later.

As Anderson looked out over the presidium his small thoughts were broken by the Asari councilor, he hated politics but he did still have a job to do and he was there to do it.

"This meeting would be more productive if Udina was to join us." The asari said.

"My advisor is unavailable at the moment, as councilor I represent the voice of humanity and the alliance….Shepard will be here any." His sentence was cut off when he saw shepard enter the room.

"Oh commander we were just talking about you." Shepard shook Andersons hand with a friendly smile.

"It's been a long time Anderson, I hope the last couple of years have treated you right."

"There have been some rough spots…its good to have you back. Who are your friends Shepard." Anderson asked, Shepard smiled now was as good as time as any to try out the new lie.

"Councilor Anderson I want you to meet the gears…there from the planet sera, but don't let the human faces fool you…they are anything but human." Shepard said as Anderson shook hands with Carmine and Baird. The happy exchange was short lived as the first to speak was the Salarian councilor.

"A new sentient race?...why have we never been informed or even been aware of their exsistance?" Carmine looked at baird and motioned that he was up to bat. He was better at this stuff than Carmine was. Stepping forward Baird held his arms behind his back and nodded at the images of the council getting the same in return.

"Council my name is Damon Baird I represent my planet of Sera, I know in appearance I look human but Im not, as for my technology it doesn't use the same as yours…you could call it primitive if you want but for the last few centuries it's done its job. We haven't really been interested in space flight or anthing of that caliber. So in response to your question as to why you haven't ever met us before, that's because we doubt your scanners or whatever they are could pick up on our planets energy reading as it doesn't have any." The three aliens looked at each other before continuing.

"Very well mr. Damon we shall believe this claim you state as it is quite obvious you aren't really a human…your much too big and your armor doesn't even register on any known tech we have." The asari councilor added in, Shepard smled.

'_Yes I can't believe these idiots actually bought it.'_ She thought to herself happily.

"What brings you to the citadel…gear representative." The turian asked in a more polite tone, on the outside they may look human but even he had to agree they were anything but.

"a select few of us decided to join shepard on her quest to investigate the disappearance of her missing colonies…we didn't really have anything better to do, and I say only a few of us volunteered because our planet had actually finished its own civil war and we were recovering." The asari held her chin in thought for a moment before deciding to ask.

"Tell me ambassador Damon if the asari, Turians or Salarians made contact with your people would you be willing to form an alliance with us." She asked with a hopefull tone.

"with all due respect mam right now isn't really a good time for that, you see we only agreed to join shepard because she kinda looked like us but the people we were fighting kinda resembled an alien like yourself only it came from under our planets surfice….so no offense but if you were to make any contact with my people we might just shoot you on sight and not even bother asking questions."

"That's troubling indeed, an alliance with a race such as yourself would have been a great strategic gain for the council, but none the less we respect your answer." Biard smiled that went better than he thought.

"There have been some troubling rumors about your sudden appearance commander." The salarian said with an unhappy tone.

"Yes rumors have it that your working for Cerberus a known enemy of the council, this borders on pure treason…and its possible that they will try and recruite the gears as way to destroy our races."

"That's too far…Shepard is a hero, I'm on this Council too and I won't let this white wash continue." Anderson argued back.

"Damn straight I've met the so called illusive man and I wasn't all that impressed…I even went as far as telling him to go fuck himself….uh pardon the language." Carmined added in earning a chuckle from Baird.

"Maybe there is a compromise." The asari councilor said rasing her hands up to stop the argument.

"Not a public acknowledgement given your ties but something to show peripheral support."

"Shepard if you keep a low profile and restrict your operation to the terminus systems the council is willing to reinstate your status as a specter." The turian councilor said in a gruff tone.

Shepard looked at Anderson and Carmine who nodded their agreement, Shepard walked forward and crossed her arms behind her back.

"I accept your offer; it's good to have the council on my side."

"Good luck with your investigation shepard we hope for a quick resolution and a quick end to your relationship with Cerberus." Before ending however she turned once again to Baird and Carmine.

"As for you Mr. Damon we hope to hear back from you with the hopes you will be willing to join the alliance."

"Thank you councilor I will defiantly consider it but like I said, right now we aren't exactly ready for space travel we just got done with our own war and were trying to rebuild our homes and families as well as search for our dead….but I will get back with you when we have an answer." The council agreed and signed off.

Everyone in the room relaxed including Baird. Who simply rubbed the back of his head like he had a hangover.

"Well that went better than expected." Anderson said in relief before turning to face sheprad.

"You know their offer is simply symbolic, they won't actually do anything."

"Either way it's better to at least stay on good terms."

"True enough, Don't worry about the Council or the Alliance…Ill find some way to keep them off your back. Shouldn't be too hard as long as you keep to the Terminus systems." The two smiled before the door to Andersons office opened up as Udina Anderson's advisor walked in.

"Anderson we need to talk about….Shepard what are you doing here?" Udina asked in both a surprised tone and agitated one.

"I was just visiting and seeing how Anderson was doing."

"You don't have to cover for me…I invited Shepard here to speak with the council, we just finished our meeting." Udina was shocked.

"You what? Councilor do the words political shit storm mean anything to you?"

"The council reinstated my specter status, there just happy im staying out in the Terminus systems." Shepard said calmly. Udina rested his chin on his hand in thought before continuing.

"Yes…I can see how that arrangement works best for both sides, but you really shouldn't have taken a step like this without consulting me first councilor."

"I don't answer to you Udina…why don't you go back to your office and think about that for a while."

"Of course Councilor, good day to both of you." Udina said turning and walking out quietly only glancing at Carmine and Baird briefly before exiting.

"Sorry about that…Udina's never gotten over the fact that I got the Council position instead of him, Sometimes I need to put him in his place."

"Udina's just doing his job." Shepard said calmy, Udina didn't really bother her as far as she was concerned he was just an annoyance and could easily be ignored.

"True enough…He's got his uses and if you want something done on the citadel he knows who can make it happen. Plus he's always happy to attend all those formal diplomatic functions I can't be bothered with." Anderson said as he rested himself on the balcony of his office.

"Hows the last couple of years treated you?" Shepard asked.

"Serving on the council isn't exactly how I planned to spend my twilight years, sometimes I feel like im just beating my head against the wall….Knowing the truth about Sovereign is brutal, its nightmare stuff I can't blame others for not wanting to believe it. But I know how important it is….so I keep trying, fighting the good fight right?" Anderson asked with a soft smile.

"Right." Shepard agreed

"Now about your friends…there not really another race are they?" he said leaning against the balcony.

"What makes you think their not?"

"Please shepard, I may be old but I'm not that old that I can't see an obvious lie infront of me…though I have to admit it was a well acted out lie." Shepard chuckled a bit.

"I won't lie to you Anderson and this part may be hard to believe but I need you to take a leap of faith here…these guys don't really live in our Galaxy. In fact they aren't even from the same universe as us." Shepard said hopeing he would believe her like he did when she first talked about the reapers.

"I see…mind if I talk to them a little and judge for myself."

"sure not a problem, hey Clay Baird come her a second." Carmine and Baird walked over to her as jack de-cloaked and floated next to Baird.

"Councilor Anderson…this is Calyton Carmine and his fellow soldier and Gear Damond Baird. Don't get Baird talking about tech though because he won't shut up once you get him started." Shepard said picking fun at Baird.

"Yeah yeah laugh it up Shepard." Shepard responded with a smile and shrug.

Anderson shook hands with Carmine and Baird getting formalities out of the way. He knew this was going to be a headache later on but better to get it out of the way now than later.

"So another dimension huh…that's defiantly a big story you must have, well at least your on humanities side and not the reapers." Everyone nodded. This was going to be a very long conversation and everyone knew it.

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Citadel shops with the women.

While Carmine and Baird were busy dealing with the Council with shepard Kelly took it upon herself to go shopping for clothes she thought Sam would look good in. Much to Sams disapproval she was pretty much dragged to the stored by Kelly who had also dragged Cole there as well, Kasumi and the others went as well if anything to see what all the fuss was about. As Kelly pushed Sam into one of the shops she had Jack, Zaeed, Garrus and even Garrus to sit down and wait for the show. All of them thinking they would rather do something else than watch a damned stage walk of clothing, however their thoughts were broken when Kelly stepped out of the dressing room.

"Ladies and gentlemen I am a damned genius with style, allow me to introduce the much more feminine Samantha Byrne." Kelly said stepping to the side as now everyone was on the edge of their seat as footsteps could be heard walking out. Garrus Zaeed and even Jack were all speechless as Sam stepped out from behind the Changing room curtain.

Black heels were just the start as the groups gaze flowed up from her feet to her top, Black heels attached to the longest pair of tanned legs any of them had seen a black dress that had a cut in one side to expose more leg as the firm body was hugged perfectly by the little black dress, the top of the outfit hung loose on sam with a low cleavage shot exposing her large chest. Well large to everyone else anyway, the dress tied itself around Sams neck with the back exposed. A small black chocker adorned her neck, Sam's hair was done up in a small ponty tail since her hair was rather short however it only made her face look even more beautiful. Her brown eyes and tanned skin and outfit she was wearing was no longer just drawing the attention of her crewmates but everyone who passed by aliens and human alike were stopping and staring at this tanned goddess that was in the store.

It made sam feel uncomfortable, she was used to wearing her armor and holding a gun and could face down even a brumak without fear. But being in the dress being gawked at by all the people on the citadel who passed by the store was more than the woman could handle. A faint blush appeared on her face only adding to the beauty, The crew almost didn't recognize her as the same Sam who was kicking ass not to long ago back on Haestrom. Cole was the first to voice his oppinon breaking the tension in the room.

"Damn sam, you look extreamly hot…aint no way Carmine could resist that look." He said with a thumbs up in approval of Kelly's choice in clothing. The others however couldn't even find words to speak with, Sam looked even hotter than an asari…even the asari women who were in the store couldn't help but stare at Sam both with lustful eyes and jealous ones. All the attention was seriously messing with the Girls confidence as a battle hardened soldier.

"Uh, thanks cole…y..you think Clay would actually like it? What do you think Garrus?" The sudden question caught the Turrian off guard as he had extreme trouble finding his voice.

"I, uh..you…I…I mean what Im trying to say is…uhh…umm, Jack you wanna help me out here?" Garrus said looking at the half naked Biotic.

"I well, umm…I..fuck I wanna say something but I can't even think of what to say I mean…I, fuck" Jack was visibly caught off guard. She knew the gears were tough as soldiers and she occasionally worried about how strong they truly were but looking at sam dressed like this was too much for her mind. She actually almost felt compelled to Flirt with sam and bed her though she knew very well Carmine might object to that one…maybe.

Even Zaeede a man who had seen so much in his life couldn't even begin to describe what he was seeing infront of him, the image infront of him almost made him think he was dead and he somehow made it to heaven he quickly shook his head trying to get his cool back. Sam knew they wanted to say something positive given the blush on their faces, She couldn't be that much of a knock out could she? She knew Anya her blond comrade back home was pretty and she was almost curious how these guys would react if she was dressed like this.

"Hey Sam try acting seductive and let's see if we can't work on ways for you to bag Carmine." Kelly said with a smile. Everyone looked at Kelly with a newfound respect, she turned Sam a gear and a battle hardened soldier into a full blown goddess in less than 30 minutes.

Sam nodded and decided to try out using seductive moves or what Kelly called seductive anyway out on the boys of the group Kelly motioned for Garrus to stand up as the confused Turian didn't know what this woman had in mind when Kelly suddenly back up. Returning his gaze to Sam he notice her slowly walking towards him she was obviously a lot taller than him but the way she moved and swayed her hips the look in her eyes, he almost wanted to wet himself right there were he stood.

What cut the cake however was when Sam wrapped an arm around the back of his armor her smooth skin could be felt on the back of his neck as her face got closer to his.

"You know garrus." Sam began speaking softly.

"I have always thought you were a very great Turian…so strong and smart, a perfect ace even when calibrating that giant gun you're so fond of. It's really quite sexy to see a man hard at work." She said trailing a finger along the lining of his mandibles, if Turians could sweat Garrus was sure he'd be doing it.

"I admire how hard you work, its really quite…a…turn…on?" Sam almost whipered leaning her brown lips close to his ear, Finally the Turian couldn't take it anymore and finally fainted passing out on the floor after Sam planted a small kiss on the Turian's cheek.

Zaeede and Jack were also shaken Zaeede shifted to hide his hidden arousal at Sam and Jack crossed her legs to hide the fact she had wet her panties, Kelly's grin only got bigger when Cole asked her what sam would look like in a wedding gown. That thought however was too much for the group as their blushes now covered their whole body, even Garrus who was still passed out on the floor visibly blushed even redder.

Kasumi on the other hand was the only one who remained composed or at least on the outside anyway, she knew full well after seeing how sam looked in that dress that she couldn't compete for Carmine's affection. However that didn't mean she wouldn't give sam a run for her money. If anything just to have a bit of fun with the woman. So she decided she actually wanted to see what the reaction of the others might be as she saw Miranda Jacob and Tali walking by. Waving them over she smiled as she pointed to the inside of the store, she had her omni tool set to record the funny that was about to happen.

As they entered the store Jacob stopped in his tracks his eyes as wide as they could be as his gaze fell upon Sam, though at first he didn't recognize her he even checked himself over straightening out his Uniform as he slowly walked in he almost tripped over his own feet when Sams brown eyes turned and looked at him. Tali on the other hand was feeling jealous at the display, she almost worried Baird wouldn't find her attractive anymore if he had seen Sam like this of course she didn't know baird that well.

Miranda didn't want to admit it but she felt threatened that her so called perfect body was no longer perfect after seeing Sam's, the woman aura reeked of the word goddess and Calmy snuck out back to her quarters on the Normandy. These Gears sucked in every sense of the word to Miranda, physically stronger and deadlier than even a Krogan. And they even had more attractive women god she was really starting to hate the Gears.

Passing by Baird who was doing a little exploring Miranda assumed he was done with the council meeting and noticed Shepard and Carmine weren't with him.

"Hey Baird where Carmine and Shepard?"

"Them? They stayed behind to chat a little longer with that Anderson guy before heading back to the Normandy I was looking for everyone else to tell em it's almost time to head out."

"There in that store over there, be sure not to trip over your own feet." Miranda said in an agitated tone leaving baird confused but chalked it up to her maybe being on her period. Walking in the store however he saw what she meant and spotted Sam wearing a dress, however he didn't respond the way everyone else did and the sentence he said afterwards only ended up giving tali an indication that Baird was in no way attracted to Sam even if she did feel a little bad about what happened next.

"Whoa sam is that you? Geeze what happened to you? You actually look like a girl for once, what with being all manly and all haha." Baird said jokingly at his fellow gear.

"Yeah Im sure Carmine will love the outfit I mean if your into that BDSM shit." That was the last thing he sad as after his sentence was finished Sams foot kicked him as hard as he could in his neither region a kick so hard it made even the women cringe in pain, as Baird buckled over holding his crotch in pain as he curled up in the fiddle position. Tali instantly rushed to see if he was okay, she knew he sort of deserved it but given how strong the kick was she felt a little sorry for him. Sam went back and changed into her cargo pants and t-shirt and with kelly's help purchased the dress. As she quickly stormed out of the store with Kelly close behind leaving the others there who only chuckled a little at what happened to baird. Well everyone except the men chuckled at what happened, the women on the other hand thought it was sweet justice to the male race.

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**ALRIGHT CHAPTER 12 is done and ready to be read, I wont lie I wanted to do something like this for a while because I won't like I find sam in the gears of war game to be really sexy even with all that armor on….however even as I was writing this even I couldn't stop laughing at what I was writing it was just too damned funny and Im so glad I wrote it. Anyway please read and review my Chapter and I hope to hear great reviews from you guys really soon…be sure to tell your friends who read fanfics to check out my story the more readers I have the better Ill write. Also check out deviant art or smackjeeves for my comic book version of The Grub Killer which I will be posting very soon. Untill then so long my valued readers and stay classy. ICE GOD OUT!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey everyone I'm sorry I haven't updated in a long while but its cuz I had so much going on with work and family, my own father passed away just a while ago so my fanfics may take a while to update**

**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx **

Chapter 13: Fuck your Biotics I'm a Gear

As shepard looked over the two Dossier of Samara the justicar and Thane the assassin their picture on the image must have been hard to obtain given their reputations. She placed the tablets down and rested her hand on her chin in thought, she wanted to collect both of them as fast as possible but she couldn't be in two places at once. She looked up and snapped her fingers smirking a soft bit before she exited her room heading down to the briefing room.

"EDI get Kasumi and Jacob up here as well as Carmine, Sam, and Cole." Shepard said as she walked towards the front of the desk.

"Right away shepard." EDI responded.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Breifing room 20 minutes later (what? That elevator is fuckin slow)

Carmine and the others shuffled into the briefing room however much to Shepards annoyance the two groups sat on opposite sides of the room, standing in front of Kasumi and Jacob Shepard looked towards Carmine and his group…somehow she couldn't help but feel like she was looking in a mirror only Carmine was a man. Yet somehow she was seeing herself in his place and was proud he was her big brother if only in words, when she looked at Sam she could almost see a shadowed version of Kasumi standing next to her the same with Cole…she could see a small shadow of Jacob in the man. Walking forward she placed her hands on the table looking at Carmine to get his attention.

"Alright guys this time I gathered you all here because we're going to be going after two targets at the same time." She looked at Kasumi and Jacob, "Jacob…Kasumi you two will be with me were going to be going after Thane. Hopefully he will be open to some form of talk and from what the dossier say he's calm which will be good." She then turned to Carmine and his group, "Clay I need you Sam and Cole to go after Samara…now she's a powerful Biotic so I will need you guys to go after her and convince her to join us." Sam decided to voice her opinion on the situation.

"Shepard isn't this Samara person capable of throwing us around like rag dolls I mean from what I've read about…Biotics seem to be a mind fuck kind of thing." Sam said her arms still crossed under her breasts. Cole looked at her and chuckled a bit…he had sparred a little with Jack and although her biotics were strong it wasn't anything he could handle. If anything they just slowed him down whenever he bull rushed her. He patted Sam on her back smiling big.

"Don't worry about it Sam we got this right Carmine?" Carmine smiled and looked at Sam with a reassuring gin causing the girl to blush and look away. Shepard smiled and nodded walking back to her side of the room.

"Alright then its setteled…we will be arriving at Illium shortly when we arrive we will split up and look for perspective targets and hopefully we return with what we need…Carmine if you happen to find anything useful out there bring it along with you while you're out there okay?" Shepard said earning a nod from Carmine. Leaving the room she headed for her quarters to prepare for the landing on illium, she began to think this was a better idea than she originally thought since Carmine made a pretty good squad leader she could possibly have him lead a team 2 in case the need ever arose. Placing her armor on she readied herself in the combat area waiting for her team as she saw Carmine team two exit the elevator she smiled as she saw her brother stand next to her.

"Hopefully you can handle an all powerful biotic bro…it be embarrassing if your little sister had to come save your ass." She joked Clay chuckled at the girls attempt to annoy him but he smiled anyway.

"Shepard the day I need you to save me is the day I call you my better." He said with a laugh, as they exited to the loading dock where the shuttle was waiting they all grabbed their gear, placing his helmet on his head the group entered the shuttle and headed down to the planet illium. Upon landing Shepard and Carmine followed by the others walked out of the shuttle but were immediately greated by an asari with two mech droids with SMG's with her. Carmine instinctively went for the handle of his lancer but was quickly stopped by Shepard, honestly the man was going to have to learn you can't always just walk in and destroy every living thing in sight.

"Welcome to nos astra commander shepard…we've been instructed to wave all documents and docking fees for your visit. My name is Corina, if you have any questions about the area it would be my pleasure to assist you." She said smiling softly

"Who instructed you to wave the fees?" shepard asked curious as to why they were given special treatment.

"The order came from Liara T'soni who paid all fees on your behalf; I have also been instructed to have you meet with her at your convenience…she's near the trading floor."

"Liara is here? What is she doing?" Shepard asked not having seen her dear friend in quite some time.

"Liara is one of Nos Astra's most respected information brokers…Nos astra is based upon trade and information is a valuable currency and Liara has done quite well. As I said youll find her near the trading floor shes looking forward to seeing you."

"thanks." She nodded her head and walked past the blue woman, Sam had to scowl at the woman as she gave carmine a lustful look as he passed by, she was seriously going to have to make sure no one took her prey but her and her alone. As the group continued to Liaras office shepard was a tad nervous as she hadn't seen Liara in some time and was wondering how her friend would react to seeing her alive again. Let alone how she was going to react to her brother Carmine, she shook her head of the thoughts as she wasn't really in the mood to over think things at the moment, a few minutes of having to deal with a lame secretary or as the asari was referred to by carmine they finally entered Liara's office to find her talking to a random man on her holoscreen.

"Have you faced an Asari commando unit before?" Liara says in a deep almost sultry tone, "Few humans half…ill make it simple, either you pay me or I flay you alive with my mind." As the image on the screen turned off she turned and her tune changed again as she realized who it was in front of her.

"Shepard! Nexeris hold my calls." The asari in question bowed before leaving the room, as Liara walked up and embraced her friend in a warm hug having missed her dearly. "My sources said you were alive, but I never belived…it's very good to see you."

"it's good to see you too liara how are you doing?"

"I've been doing well I've been working as an information broker…it's paid the bills since well….for the past two years and now your back and gunning for the collectors with Cerberus."

"If you know that then you know I could use your help." Shepard asked hoping she may gain another ally in the form of an old friend.

"sorry shepard…I can't, I have commitments here things I have to take care of."

"Like?" Shepard asked a little curious

"I'm sorry shepard but I'm afraid that is a bit personal…now then who are your friends?" She asked pointing to carmine and the others. Shepard look behind her as Carmine was busy looking at things in Liaras office not knowing what they were, some were artifacts of things he had never seen before not that he really cared.

"That's clay…he a new alien that I happen to find he's sort of like my big brother in a way." Liara gave her friend a hard look. Before continuing to speak.

"Shepard please I've been studying so many thinks since my time at the university so do not question my intelligence by telling possibly the worst lie I have ever heard you say." Shepard was a little taken aback at how quick Liara figured her out but then again the girl was smart and she should have expected this. With a heavy sigh she gave in to her since she figured it was a long shot shed even buy it anyway, Liara was always the kind of girl who loved new things and although Clay certainly was "new" she highly doubted shed believe her.

"Alright you win Liara…truth is Clay and his friends aren't from this universe and are very good at what they do. I don't know anything about where he came from, and he doesn't have any technology we have in fact you would almost think it's ancient given the design of the weapons he uses. But I can say one thing for sure where ever he came from it sure as hell made him incredibly tough and deadly." Liara gave her friend a hard look trying to see if any of what she just said was a lie and seeing Shepards eyes make no change meant that she truly believed what she had just said letting out a sigh Liara had something she wanted to test. Looking over at Carmine she stood up from her desk and walked around it to look at the group in her office.

"Carmine if I may…I wish to see your memories." The gears all turned their heads at the asari looking at her like she was an idiot. Because of Carmine's helmet though she couldn't tell what his expression was, but called him over to her. As he got closer she suddenly felt so small, shepard was around the same height as her if not a bit taller but this man greatly dwarfed her and actually cast a small shadow on her that she instinctively gulped when she had to look up at him. Taking his every feature it was no wonder shepard said he was deadly…anyone could look at this man and tell that he was a force to be reckoned with. She wasn't even sure a Krogan could stand up to him.

"If you will please remove your helmet Carmine I wish to try something." Carmine didn't know what this woman was saying but complied as he removed his helmet handing it to Shepard as she held it in her arms. She had to smile at clay he may not be her blood relative but to her he was her big brother and he felt the same about her, looking to liara she knew what the asari had planned.

"Carmine…clear your mind and embrace eternity." Liara's eyes went pure black as she entered Carmine's memories, in an instant she was on a strange planet and to take a wild guess she figured it was his home. Looking around she saw a small home with a large yard that looked like fields all around it. She heard laughter as running right past her ran 4 boys all laughing and giggling with each other, she smiled and figured this was his child hood. Her moment of seeing happiness ended however when flames suddenly engulfed everything as she found herself in a city looking around she heard people screaming and running in every direction. Looking around she saw strange alien like monsters shooting everyone in their path with several spider like abominations right behind them, she saw clay once again only this time running towards who she guessed was the enemy. His gun blazing as he killed hundreds of them yelling like a primal animal, Liara was in a horrified state…she had expected some war memories but these…these were nothing but nightmares. Again the memories shifted to when Carmine was with a group of people looking for something she didn't know what, as a strange monster came barreling towards them it's screech as powerful as it was.

"Beserker!" Was all she heard carmine say as the group fired upon the monster only to have their bullets seem to bounce off the creature as it ran straight through Liara, she was greatfull she was just an viewing Carmines memories because as the creature grabbed one of the armored soldiers and proceded to tear him to pieces she was glad she wasn't around during this moment. Finally she found herself on a beach as she heard guns blazing before looking up to see a large lizard like creature cast a large shadow of black on her as its large body was bigger than anything she could ever imagine, it looked down at her and Roared causing the Asari to scream out loud as she ejected herself from Carmine's mind stumbling back and falling onto her bottom on the floor. Carmine's soft look was now replaced by a hard glare as he looked down on this woman who had pretty much witnessed everything he lived. All his nightmares and rage all hit this woman in only a matter of minutes, Liara finally pulled herself off the ground tears in her eyes.

"Goddess…I…I cannot imagine the kinds of nightmares you have experienced. Nothing I have ever seen in all my years alive could ever compare to that." She looked up at Carmine who had by now placed his helmet back on looking at the asari as she took her seat again.

"I didn't think you were telling the truth shepard but you were right…he is from a different universe."

"Glad we got that out of the way…no can you answer me a few questions?" Liara shook her head clearing her mind so she wouldn't remember the giant lizard she saw and smiled at Shepard.

"Of course shepard how can I help?"

"There's an asari name Samara on illium do you know where I can find her?"

"Samara? Yes she arrived recently, she registered with tracking officer Dara...you can find Dara at the transportation hub."

"Why would Samara have to register with a traffic officer? Is she a criminal?" shepard asked a little concerned, she already had one criminal on her ship jack and she didn't really need another.

"No…in fact shes quite the opposite…Samara is a justicar one of an ancient sective asari warriors…Dara can tell you more." Shepard turned to Carmine.

"You get all that Clay?...head to the transport hub and see what you can find out about Samara and see if you can get her to join us."

"Sure thing." Carmine left the office just as Shepard began asking about Thane as Cole and Sam followed him out the door. Carmine was met by nyxerus at the door who had casually stood up to bow to them with a smile on her face she gave Carmine an almost caring look which didn't sit well with Sam as she glared at the asari.

"Hello again Mr. Carmine I take it everything went well with Liara?" she asked him with a small sultry voice, Cole and Carmine didn't even notice the tone in her voice although Sam did all too easily with caused the tan woman to grind her teeth together.

"Yeah we got what we came for…were headed to the transportation place."

"Then I wish you good luck on your travels Mr. Carmine" she bowed one more time as Cole and Carmine walked past her, sam stayed back a little longer though giving the asari a hard glare.

"Listen here bitch…I don't know who or what you are…but you stay away from that man got it."

"Why I would never dream of taking your husband away." She said with a soft chuckled causing sam to blush deep red and stutter a bit before yelling at the blue asari.

"Now you listen here he is not my husband! And you keep your little blue fingers off him do you understand!" The scene was almost comical until Carmine broke the woman out of her rant calling out to her…giving the asari one final glare she chased after her two comrades. Catching up to them her arms crossed under her chest in a huff making carmine and Cole look at her quizzically, Sam quickly waved it off so they would let it go as they kept walking. Ilium was certainly a huge place with loads of aliens filling the area if it weren't for the fact they had a mission they may have stopped and looked around…however they were determined to get Samara like shepard asked them to. As they passed through several areas the finally reached the trafficking area as they ducked and weaved past several talking aliens who kept staring at them for their large size, the women in the area defiantly stared a lot at Cole and carmine specifically their bodies, Sam wanted to be angry at the women but she too was receiving a lot of lustful stares from the men of the area and it made her nervous she almost wished the locust were still around so shed have something to vent her frustration on.

As they finally reached the trafficking office they did have to wait a bit for a few people to register with the officer there but finally they received the chance to speak as the officer whose name tag read Dara looked up at carmine and smiled trying to be polite while also hiding the fact the man was intimidating. "Yes hello how can I assist you today?" she asked hoping that she could solve their problem quickly.

"Were looking for a justicar named Samara, have you seen her?" Carmine asked

"wait why? Do you have a problem?...did she kill someone already." Dara asked with concern quickly standing up.

"whoa whoa blue…we have no idea were just looking for her alright?" Carmine said trying to calm the woman down. "just calmly tell us where she is."

"If you say so…but be careful around samara, Justicars have a nasty habit of shooting people…you can hail a cab from the pedestal over there. Just be polite when you are in her presence justicars embody our highest laws and they usually stay in asari space she's not used to dealing with Aliens."

"Sounds like the onyx guard back home." Sam whispered to Cole

"Is Samara that dangerous?" Carmine asked

"If you follow the law then you have nothing to fear, and a justicar would die without hesitation to protect the innocent…but their code orders them to stop law breakers. With lethal force in most cases and everyone skirts the law somehow on illium, if someone tried to bribe her she would gun them down to protect her honor im hoping to avoid that."

"Why so worried about other species coming into contact with Samara?" Sam asked.

"If a justicar kills an asari none of us question it…but if she killed a human, do you think the alliance would understand her action and respect her authority? They can't even figure out their own religions…it's a huge diplomatic incident just waiting to happen."

"Geeze and I thought the Onyx guard was bad but I see your point back home when the chairman ordered things to happen none of us really questioned it either, but thanks for the info well be going." Carmine said giving the woman a hand shake.

"Take care of yourselves gears you will be the first unknown alien race Samara will ever see probably." That statement caught his attention fast.

"Wait you know who we are?" Carmine asked a little confused.

"Of course…Illium is known for having lots of information so its only natural that news of your race made it to our ears, I must say I had heard that your kind was big though I didn't quite expect such a huge size."

"Uhh thanks…I guess." Carmine said shyly

"Of course there are already rumors going around that the gears are known for their strong and powerful males and their females having beauty to rival that of a goddess someone even painted a picture from when they saw one in person." This got Sams attention and the woman blushed deep crimson red as Cole gave a small chuckle.

"Can I see it." Carmine asked. "Of course one moment." Dara replied before turning and taking a copy of the painting and handing it to carmine, His reaction both embarrassed and touched Sams heart…he liked the picture and was happy with how it looks.

Carmine was blushing as he looked at the picture, the portrait depicted a beautiful woman with tanned skin and short dark hair with a black dress attached to her slim perfect figure with the sun behind her giving her a warm angelic glow, the woman had soft brown eyes and beautiful lips Carmine shook his head and handed the picture back and said goodbye before he walked past the group to summon a cab. As they waited for the cab Sam finally asked since she was curious.

"So umm…carmine about that portrait." However her sentence was cut off and blushed deep red as he spoke.

"You looked amazing Sam…but I already knew you were beautiful before that picture although I have to admit the guy who painted it sure does know how to capture the beauty you have. I liked it and if we ever finish this war or any war for that matter I honestly think you would be a great model." Sam simply remained silent not trusting her voice, finally after some waiting the cab arrived however since the trio was larger than the norm Cole immediately called shotgun and hopped up front leaving sam and Carmine to claim the back seat, getting in the chair was awkward because in the end Sam ended up sitting on Carmines lap having to snuggle close to him just fit, thankfully Carmine removed his helmet so Sams face wouldn't suffer chafing on the hard metal of his helmet. The entire ride was in silence with some light rapping from cole, however Carmine's thoughts were on Sam as he noticed how soft her skin was and how her soft breathing made his skin feel amazing. He blushed when she turned to him to ask him if he was okay to which he quickly looked away confirming he was fine, Sam was really going to need something to kill soon her frustration and embarrassment was reaching a new level of danger and she was worried she may snap soon, luckily for her that time would be soon.

As they arrived at their destination they noticed a small creature being yelled at by a security guard deciding to ignore it Carmine and the main office building as they looked around for anyone who could possibly help them, Carmine walked up to an officer and looked at the sitting asari.

"Impressive guns…try not to use em in my district, what can I do for you?" The asari asked as carmine sat down in the chair only for it to break and he fall on his butt getting a laugh out of everyone, after a new bigger chair was brought in Carmine got to business.

"Were looking for an Asari warrior named Samara"

"if you have a score to settle take it somewhere else…I've got more than enough trouble here already."

"Look I really need to find Samara and get on the road with or without help from you." Carmine argued back.

"Sounds important…Justicars usually work alone but they are drawn to impossible causes, if you're getting her out of my district I'll get you to her ASAP…She's at the crime scene."

"Why do you want her near a crime scene?" Sam asked confused.

"I'm a cop ill work with a justicar all I can, besides she's been looking at crime scenes longer than our two life spans combined she knows how to handle herself."

"Why is everyone so anxious to get her out of here? Is she some super baddy?" Cole asked confused himself now since he thought justicars were supposed to be the good guys.

"My bosses want me to detain her; they're worried that she'll cause some cross-species incident. But that justicar code won't let her be taken into custody if I try she'll have to kill and I don't have interest in dying. So if you lure her away with some big noble cause before I have to carry out my orders I'm thrilled to help you."

"Kind of sounds strange if Samra is willing to kill a cop, doesn't exactly sound like she's a good guy." Carmine said, these Asari were so confusing then again the whole alliance was confusing…at least with the COG he knew what was what and it was pretty damn simple not all this confusing bullshit he was listening to now.

"She would die defending an honest cop, and she would fight an army of dirty cops to the death I admire her dedication but her presence is still a problem."

"Don't follow the order then, sounds like your superiors don't think much of you and clearly see you as expendable flesh…yeah if you can fight and can hold a gun and defend what you know is right aint no expendable." Carmine said getting nods of agreement from Sam and Cole.

"Alright just head to the alley it's on your left when you leave the building Ill send word to let em know your coming….careful though the local eclipse are surrounding that area."

"If there the bad guys then there just target practice." Carmine said as he and the others exited the building heading towards their target.

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Crime scene 3 minutes later

Carmine and the others entered the final room only to be greeted with an asari being slammed into the wall next to them; they looked up and saw two asari women on a stand-off Carmine decided to see who came out on top though he wouldn't have to wait long. The Asari who they assumed was Samara flung the other like a rag doll before following up by killing her, turning her attention to the three that walked in the Asari clad in red walked up to them calmly.

"My name is Samara a servant of the code, my quarrel is with these eclipse sisters yet I see three well armed people before me the likes I have never seen before…are we friend or foe." Samara asked.

"The names Clay carmine but call me Carmine these are my partners Augustus Cole or Cole train and this is Samantha Byrne…Sam for short. We need your help with a very important mission Samara."

"You honor me…but I am in the middle of investigation."

"We need your help to take on the collectors."

"The collectors are a worthy foe, I would relish testing my skills against them…but I seek an incredibly dangerous fugitive, I had cornered her here but these eclipse helped smuggle her off world. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."

"I wish you would go with him justicar…I've been ordered to take you in if you won't leave." Anaya said coming into the crime scene.

"You risk a great deal by following your orders, fortunately I will not have to resist…my code obligates me to cooperate with you for one day after that I must return to my investigation."

"I wouldn't be able to release you that soon."

"You won't be able to stop me."

"Uhh the gear is lost here can one of you speak in a language I can understand." Carmine said becoming frustrated he wasn't in the loop."

"I was trying to convince her to leave with you but justicars and that code."

"I cannot make Anaya disobey an order."

"So in other words after one day Samara would basically fight her way out of custody killing anything and everything to get back to her investigation….nice." Sam said in some small annoyance.

"Well let's make a deal then…how about we get you the name of that ship and you follow us afterwards sound good?" Carmine asked

"Yes if you get me what I need I will follow you, and the code will be satisfied…the code is rather strict about it."

"Don't worry about it…we have something similar back on my world but they're called the Onyx Guard so I can understand what you're doing." Carmine watched as the Samara left with Anaya but before she disappeared she handed him a key.

"Here…I took this off of one of the Eclipse sisters this could possibly help you get into their headquarters…where it's at however I am unsure."

"Thanks well get on it." With that Samara disappeared as the group looked at the key, Carmine rang EDI on the radio James installed into his helmet incase he needed to call for something.

"Yo EDI can you hear me?" Carmine asked

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Eclipse headquarters entrance 1 hour later

"So we found the place and on the other side of this door is basicly a small army of Eclipse mercs huh?" Carmine said aloud, as Sam finished placing charges in a very large circle as she cracked her knuckles.

"yep now can we hurry up and get this over with I have a lot of pent up aggression I want to get off my chest and my trigger finger is beginning to get a bit antsy."

On the other side of the door/wall the mercs were all talking amongst themselves, mostly about how to kill Samara since they were certain that she was coming after them…but also about new ways to deal with business and other things, until a large explosion got everyone's attention some of the debris killing a few of them as the large cloud of smoke began to settle. When the dust finally cleared standing before them were the three gears they had heard about, they were instantly on guard as a few of the technicians activated a few bots to help them out. Cole popped his neck as he pulled the Gnasher shot gun off his back and got ready as sam rubbed her fists eager to start.

"Orders carmine?" She said almost playfully

"FUCK EM UP!" he yelled and pulled up the Mulcher he brought with him and instantly began to fire at them from where he stood as Sam and Cole rushed forward, Sam managed to dodge some fire as several shots missed her before she killed them with her retro lancer by shooting many of her opponents in the face. Cole on the other hand bull rushed many of his opponents running them over like a truck all while shooting his shot gun, Thanks the mulcher they leveled a good size of the army until one of the asary used her biotic powers to fling a container of red sand at Carmine, as the sand hit is body he winced in pain.

"Carmine!" Sam called out to him as she heard EDI come on over the radio.

"Sam that is red sand, it boots the biotic abilities of anyone who comes into contact with it, however too much exposure to it and it will begin to corrode the body." Edi said

"Is that what's happening to Carmine?"

"Uknown red sand has never been used in your kind before so the effects are unknown at this time." That didn't sound good to sam as she looked over to him, he was exposed and several bullets did miss him but he was beginning to take fire now that his shields had finally failed, his body was glowing a bright blue and she didn't know what was happening until she heard cole call out to them.

"Yo carmine get your ass up man, you need to get back to Shepard man this isn't the playoffs yet so don't go dying before the big game man!" Cole said as he fired his gun again destroy the entire top half of an unfortunate Asari who happened to be standing in the way…Carmine slowly began to stand on his feet however they didn't expect what happened next.

"you asari…all think you're so superior to everyone…all this talk of codes, and biotic, and society…" a few of the mercs stopped firing as they began to back away from what was happening, all around Carmine blue mist formed as if he was on fire even the optics of his helmet looked like they glowed with all his hatred. Even some of the Asari who looked at what was happening began to back up in fear, Carmine weakily stepped forward a bit. He heard what EDI had said about the sand and figured this would be a onetime shot but was going to take it.

"well you can take your sorry blue asses…and your society, and your gangs…and go to hell….SO FUCK YOUR BIOTICS I AM A GEAR!" Carmine blasted all the excess biotic energy into one shock wave that blasted everything and everyone on the wrong end of it into the wall behind them not only killing them but destroying the wall and the one behind it. The Result was a hole that looked like a corpser had made it, panting Carmine fell to one knee all the blue flames disappeared and Sam rushed to his side. He felt like he had just run a marathon and was tired as shit.

"Damn carmine that was impressive…how ya feel? Think you can still go on?" Carmine stood up and popped his back a bit.

"I feel fine now, but damn I don't want any more of that red sand on me, I feel like I ran a fuckin marathon without any food or water anyway let's keeps moving, the mulcher is out of ammo so we can't use it anymore so well come back for it later." Carmine took hold of his lancer and began to walk forward as more mercs tried to stop them. Sam was extremely worried about Carmine but with the firefight they were currently in she had to simply wait it out and hope he was okay, after walking through several holes that carmine had blasted they came into another area, Carmine instantly stopped them when he heard something close to a whimper. Entering the room he scanned the area holding his boltok pistol in the air he waited as a young Asari woman named elnore stood up with her hands in the air.

"Wait please don't shoot im not one of them, I mean I pretended to shoot because the other eclipse sisters were watching but I didn't really shoot." She pleaded trying to get the large people to not hurt her.

"You picked the wrong side kid…end of story" Carmine said not lowering his gun

"Screw you bitch!" Eleanor fired her gun only for it to do nothing against Carmine's much much stronger shields as he only shook his head before firing the bullet blasting a large hole into her gut. Exiting the room all that was left inside was a very gruesome sight.

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Eclipse sisters stronghold

The leader of the Eclipse sisters was drinking a glass wine as she looked over her papers, not even acknowledging the fact the gears were more or less outside her very door. Setting down the glass and tossing the data pad on the desk she activated her barriers just in time, as the door to her office which was fairly large was blown off the hinges. Walking through door first was carmine followed by Sam and Cole only it was carmine that disturbed her most; his very presence and aura about him screamed that he was beyond pissed off for what reason though she didn't know.

"Sigh…everything's gone to hell ever since we smuggled that filthy creature off-world. First a Jusitcar shows up, now you…though I must say I don't know whether to feel honored or worried that she sent the legendary gears after me." Wasea said with a smirk on her face.

"Legendary…we haven't even been here that long?" Sam said curious why they were already legends.

"Well of course…news about the new race spreads fast even to us gang leaders, ruthless…blood thirsty…beautiful." She said the last part while looking at Sam with a small hint of jealousy in her voice, "There are already rumors going around that your race is almost absolutely perfect…though I plan on seeing if that rumor is true or not….I may not have been able to do anything about that creature, but at least I can take pleasure in turning your heads into a pulpy mass!" Wasea finished by lifting up a large container of red sand and hurling it at the gears, luckily they managed to doge the container since carmine wasn't exactly a fan of the massive pain that followed when it touched his skin. Unfortunately Sam this time was the one who got dosed in the red sand since the container was close enough to her to splash a good portion of its contents on her body.

In an instant she knew the same pain carmine felt as the sand was absorbed into her skin she grit her teeth in pain and let out a scream of agony as biotic potential was forced in her, luckily she fell behind cover away from the oncoming gun fire, Wasea summoned a few of her fellow sisters who were now unleashing hell on the two gears who weren't hit by the Red sand. Carmine however was still a little sluggish after he had his turn with the damned red sand and was slower to react to gunfire so his shields were taking damage. Cole looked over to Sam who was still holding her body in pain the same blue energy beginning to boil on her body like it did with carmine only a little while ago, looking at Carmine who had taken cover to recharge his shields decided he needed to do something otherwise things were going to get ugly fast.

"Carmine! Get yo ass to Sam and make sure she's okay…Ill cover you!" Carmine nodded as he quickly rode ran over to her diving into cover next to her as Cole stepped out of cover and fired his lancer at the group killing a few in the process before he ducked back into cover, Carmine looked over Sam her entire body covered in the exact same blue energy he dealt with earlier. She looked up at him with water filled eyes not used to this kind of intense pain she was now feeling, carmine comforted her as much as he could.

"Sam your gonna be okay alright just hang in there okay?"

"It hurts carmine…it…its like my entire body is burning up….guh the pain" She cringed as she felt her entire muscles and body feel like they were demanding something from her that she didn't know. Carmine tried to figure out what he could do until an idea hit him, if she could channel this into her own rage and use her emotions as an advantage like he did then maybe she would feel better. He took off his helmet looking at her gently holding her face so she looked at him.

"Sam listen to me…your going to be okay alright. I need you to listen to me alright, this is just like what I went through earlier I need you to get angry okay. I need you to use this power for a bit alright, it gonna hurt trust me I know…but youll feel better after doing it alright."

"I…I can't it hurts..I..I" her words were cut off however when carmine pressed his lips against hers kissing her. As if her body reacted to his the pain suddenly stopped as she felt like bliss hit her, she didn't want it to end but when his lips withdrew from hers he looked at her again.

"Clay…"

"Give em hell sam." With that he immediately placed his helmet back on his head and took his lancer and laid down more fire on the oncoming gang members. Though their numbers were beginning to dwindle they still held a good amount of fire power over the three gears, Sam touched her lips for a moment before the energy that she felt no longer hurt as her eyes glowed with bright blue light. Standing straight up dropping her gun and drawing her cleaver which she had manage to modify into a sword for herself began slowly walking out of cover. The fire coming from the enemies gun not only bounced off her shields they didn't even get passed the new biotic barrier that seem to surround her now.

Sam sported an almost other worldly look her face was calm as she held her sword in her hand, she began walking forward before it turned into an all out sprint, the gang members thought they would have enough time to easily wear down her shields and kill the girl. But as soon as her sprint began she pushed the new power to the max and in a flash of biotic speed leaving a trail of blue behind her as she brought her sword down on the first merc slicing them in two before she began her bloody assault on the group. Jumping and dodging bullet s almost like a dance Samantha brought her mighty sword down on all the Eclipse soldiers who were unfortunate to stand in her way. Her biotics still pumping she looked at Wasea who was now the only one left her shot gun the only weapon she had.

"I..impossible…my entire group….slaughtered, w..what are you?" Wasea said cowering at the sight before her, a beautiful human looking woman with a large sword oozing biotic power almost like their goddess of the Asari religion. Her eyes jerked wide a gust of wind blew past her with Sam suddenly standing behind her; her back to the asari gang leader.

"We…are gears." Sam said softly placing the cleaver back on her back with an audible click, as blood gushed from Wasea's body as she fell to her knees.

"I…have seen…the goddess made flesh." Was the last thing wasea uttered before she fell to the ground dead. As the biotics finally left Sams body she collapse onto the ground only for carmine to instantly rush to her side much like she had done moments ago. She was alive but passed out cold exhausted from using the biotics her body wasn't used to.

"Hey Carmine…think I found what that Samara chick was after." He said holding up a data pad with a large grin on his face.

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Dectective Anaya's office 30 minutes later

Carmine walked into the office and looked at Samara who was at first curious why sam his partner was slung over the shoulder of Cole, though that matter wasn't important. He had to get this over with fast the headache he was feeling earlier was beginning to come back with vengeance.

"I've got the name of the ship…your fugitive ran away on some ship called the AML Demeter, but that was two days ago…sorry it wasn't found sooner." Carmine said with a shrug.

"Carmine you impress me…you have fulfilled your part of the bargain now I will fulfill mine." Climbing off her perch she stood and looked at Anaya, "I am ready to leave immediately if that will satisfy your superiors Detective."

"You're free to go justicar, it's been an honor having you in my station….and it nice you didn't kill me to." Anaya finished with a smile.

"The Eclipse smuggled some Ardat-yakshe off world, that's who you're really after isn't it?" Carmine said with some annoyance, though he couldn't really hold it against her.

"You continue to impress. Yes, I was here tracking the Ardat-yakshi. She is a dangeroud criminal and I will bring her to justice."

"The Normandy is docked in the north hangar…I'll see you aboard then."

"I must be sword to your service so that I am not forced to choose between your orders and the code." Looking up briefly her eyes began to glow as she then bowed before Carmine, he began to feel a little awkward. Anaya stood up looking in awe as if she was witnessing the birth of the universe or something.

"By the code, I will serve you Carmine your choices will by my choices, your morals my morals. Your wishes are my code." She began to glow brightly which didn't bother Carmine at first but still the nagging sensation in his mind. She once again stood tall like the proud warrior she was.

"Never thought I'd see a justicar swear an oath like that." Anaya commented.

"If you make me do anything extremely dishonorable then I will need to kill you, once I am released from the oath."

"It's an honor Samara it really is." The radio went off on Carmine's helm it was shepard hailing him.

"Yo carmine how are things on your end? You get Samara…we already acquired thane."

"Yeah we got samara and are heading…heading…ugh."

"Carmine? everything alright?" Carmine's head was spinning now he could barley keep his vision focused.

"Carmine…carmine?! Clay?" Shepards voice began to get worried.

"Shepard…shepard…stars…what…im…i…whats" Before he could say another word Carmine fell backwards onto his back his helmet falling of his head, with a tiny bit of red sand trickling out of it. Some of it, must have gotten stuck in his helmet keeping it next to his skin.

"Shit…Shepard! Carmine and Sam are down we need immediate Medical attention!" Cole called over the radio, everyone gathered around Carmine and sam who was still unconscious. The words fading form his ears even though he could still faintly hear everyone calling his name.

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**OH my god finally! I never thought id get this chapter done. Hey sorry guys for the long wait…I've been having a rough time at home and moving around a lot. But I finally got my mojo back after having suffered a major writers block the size of which still confuses me. Im just glad to be back and Im very glad for those of you who held faith in me to keep writing. As always please read and review my story, I get inspiration from you guys when I hear such good comments about the story im writing. **

**Side note: no carmine and sam aren't dead…will they be biotic capable…yes though lets just say that unlike the humans of masseffect the red sand handles things differently with the gears. Think of it as a bit of foreshadowing becase the red sand will play a major role in what wil happen next. Also yeah carmine and sam are going to be a couple. As for the OC gear…I decided im going to make him a Santiago but kinda like a cousin of sorts only he will have known dom well. so for those of you who wanted to see Dom, well heres the next best thing. Well I think so anyway.**

**Thank you all again for sticking with me. **

**Icegod out**


	14. Chapter 14

**Alright guys time for another update I won't say anything else other than sorry im taking so long to update but having an overnight job sucks because well…I don't get much time off to work on this stuff anymore…so I hope your all cool with that.**

**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Chapter 14: This is new**

As the doors to the Normandy medic bay opened Sam and Clay were rolled in on stretchers followed closely by Cole and Mordin who immdeiatly began work on the two stripping them of their armor. Baird and Tali along with most of the desk came rushing by the viewing window to see what was happening, Kelly had come down and looked through the window worried about the two.

"Cole what happened out there?" Baird asked concerned that Clay and sam's heart monitors showed a rapid heartbeat as Mordin and Dr. chakwas worked on the two as best they can, with mordin scanning and probing the two to cure them or help ease their pain.

"Man Baird I don't know…we were getting Samara like Shepard told us too, we run into these baddies one of em tosses some kind of red sand on Carmine and he looks like he's having a mental break down, next thing I know he uses what I guess are Biotics and punches a whole the size of a brumak through half the building we were in. Same thing happened with Sam only when she got hit she was in some serious pain but she started using Biotics too next thing I know, she's really fast and her shields are stronger than anything I know of and she just slaughters everything in the room like lightning." Cole explained as he remembered how Sam and Cole had dealt with the Eclipse mercs. However as soon as he was done with his explanation the elevator doors opened to reveal Shepard rushing towards the medic doors ready to burst in only for Baird and Tali to hold her back.

"Guh…let me go…I need to be in there!" She said struggling against them as they were surprised they had to use a good amount of strength to hold the woman back. However some of the crew could understand why she was acting the way she was as they had witnessed Shepard and Carmine developing a deep bond like a brother and sister, even Jacob noticed they started calling each other family.

"Commander Mordin is doing everything along with doctor chakwas just calm down!" Baird said trying to restrain the blond woman.

"No damnit I need to be in there that's my brother in there!" Hearing her say that actually startled Baird and Tali enough for her to wiggle out of their grasp as she barged through the door where she witnessed Carmine and Sam on the operating tables. Rushing to his side she looked over the large man catching everyone in the room by surprise…his face looked pained as the wounds on his body looked bad as well, whatever happened to him looked terrible.

"Commander please allows us to work…you being here problematic." Mordin said trying to act professional ignoring the tears in shepards eyes. Who only fought against his grip as she only wanted to stay at Carmine's side, they didn't understand how it felt to be alone all her life and to finally have someone who truly felt like family enter her world. Seeing as she wasn't going to leave Mordin signaled for someone anyone to come in and restrain shepard, Cole walked in felling a bit bad as he struck the back of Shepard's head knocking her out catching her before she hit the floor.

"Sorry about this commander but you'll thank me later." He said picking her up bridal style tears still running down her face as he carried her out of the Med bay everyone watching. They had never seen their commander like this ever and were surprised at how she had acted, all but one person as she stood a little ways from the group almost like an outcast. Miranda leaned against the wall watching the events and began to feel bad for shepard…she knew what it was like to worry about a family member, she was a bit weirded out at first that Shepard would connect to clay like she did on such a deep level but when she thought about it the man gave off that big brother feel. His personality everything about it seemed to radiate confidence, she soon came to realize she wasn't jealous of carmine's strength she was jealous of who he was at heart. Looking at the floor she began to feel like perhaps the whole way she thought was wrong, she didn't even bother to learn a thing about Carmine and shepard had to the point she was actually in tears over the man.

Mean while Cole had taken Shepard all the way to her room and laid her down on her bed as Kelly followed, Kelly assured him she would take care of shepard as Cole headed back down to the med bay to hopefully hear that carmine was in better condition. Cole couldn't help but feel that somehow it was his fault but he knew Carmine and Sam were tough as nails and they wouldn't stay down for long. Exiting the elevator he watched at the window along with Baird and surprisingly Samara, while he saw her make the oat to Carmine he wasn't sure if the woman was just watching over him because of that Code or because she actually cared. Finally Dr. Chakwas along with Mordin walked out of the medical room as both Clay and Sam were in stable conditions as Mordin sported a very large smile on his face.

"So mordin are carmine and sam gonna be okay?" Cole asked walking up to the salarian scientist. Who simply nodded and almost seemed to be holding back a chuckle, Baird however caught on fast to the professor and voiced his opinion.

"Im gonna assume you found something interesting for you to be smiling like that huh professor?" Baird said.

"Yes its quite fascinating actually…Samara are you familiar with the red sand?" He asked the asari who nodded after explaining what it did to enhance biotic abilities while at the same time hurting the user which caused Mordin to laugh this time. "Yes yes knew it…red sand meant to be harmful to all species most harmful to Asari as well but is not the case with Carmine and Sam."

"What are you talking about professor?" Baird asked his curiosity now peeked…Mordin began showing them charts and graphs as well as x-rays before finally getting to his point after a few minutes of useless drabble.

"To put it simply Baird…the red sand Carmine and Sam encountered while problematic to other species actually has no ill effect on them and while it did force out their Biotic potential it did something most interesting to them." He played a video he recorded that showed some of Sams wounds closing at a rapid rate similar to a Krogans regenerative capability. "This sand has a curious origin itself as No one really knows where the substance came from only that it boosts Biotic capabilities, but now my theories are beginning to have me think this sand was almost specifically tailored to your race Baird." Mordin finished…Baird could only take a thinking pose for a bit as he literally ran through a tone of scenarios in his head.

"Okay professor so what do you think then? Aside from being alright and this sand making them what they are now will they be fit for duty?" Baird said being unusually serious about the whole situation.

"Of course…however their Biotic capabilities are still fresh, will need someone to help them control their new found abilities."

"I can help them with that professor…I am deeply concerned for Carmine but his honor and courage are respectable and if I can help his mate then I shall do what I can." Samara said offering her assistance getting a nod of approval from everyone, now all that mattered was just waiting for Carmine and Sam to wake up.

After a good few hours Shepard finally began to stir in her bed as she groggily woke up and sat up in her bed, she had been stripped to her underwear and a basic T-shirt she had taken from Carmine during their trip to the citadel. She had massive bed head a headache and was extreamly agitated when she noticed Kelly sitting in a chair near her bed her glare making the girl shiver a bit.

"Okay then…questions….question one…why am I almost butt ass naked?" she asked Kelly.

"I removed your clothing since I figured you would sleep more comfortably that way."

"whats the cook making?"

"Eggs and bacon." Kelly responded having no idea the kind of destruction that was about to follow after she said the word bacon.

"Okay then…now how is carmine?"

"He's doing well both him and Sam are doing wonderfully and have even awakened Biotic capabilities in themselves but are still sleeping in the med bay." Shepard was surprised to learn her older brother developed Biotic powers but let it go, as she threw the covers off herself stretching before standing up. Even though she wasn't wearing pants the giant shirt acted like a dress, it was a simple grey shirt but on it the familiar COG symbol decorated the back. Shepard rubbed her head as she stretched before she looked at Kelly asking the last question.

"Last and most important question….who the FUCK knocked me out?" However Shepard didn't get a response from her as a large explosion was felt on the ship rocking it only slightly. "EDI DAMAGE REPORT!" Shepard called out.

"It would appear Clay is awake and feeling very hungry as well as Samantha commander." Edi responded.

"Yeah you may wanna get down to the crew deck commander….unless you know you wanna miss breakfast, lunch and dinner since it's about to be devoured by your brother." Joker chimed in as the com was shut off. Shepard let out a sigh and immediately rushed to the elevator ignoring Kelly since the shirt was long enough to be a dress and she didn't bother with pants.

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Med bay 5 minutes earlier

As the cook (I forgot the guys name) was making food and large amounts of it for the crew as well as the gears he knew after talking to Cole that the gears hadn't had bacon in a long time so to do something special for them he cooked up a good amount of bacon. Cole and Baird couldn't be happier about eating the meal because for them it was almost orgasmic finally eating something they had not had in so long because of the war with the Locust. Tali was talking with Baird and enjoying hearing about his world as was Kelly when she talked to Cole, some of the crew along with Garrus and the others were all pretty surprised and happy for the two girls. Though a few of them didn't expect them to fall for the gears let alone like them…although it was almost a given since Baird was just as much an engineer like Tali was, as they ate the aroma from the eggs and bacon was making its way through the vents and since the medical bay happened to be right near the kitchen. (yeah I don't know why it is either) The aroma began to seep through the vents in the bay as the amazing smell of bacon floated its way down towards Carmine and Sam. Like a snake it slithered its way under their noses as they took a breath and inhaled the aroma of the cooks bacon, in an instant the heart monitors began to alert anyone in the room that their pulses were increasing as both carmine and Sam's eyes popped open sitting up fast. As if in a trance Carmine stood and popped his neck feeling great even better than before a wicked smile crossing his face…Sam was standing behind him stretching as well a wicked smirk on her own features. Carmine was clad in a pair of shorts and no shirt and one could see the various scars on his body, Sam also adorned similar attire though she wore a pair of black short shorts and a short tank top and no bra like she liked. Her body oozed sex appeal as did carmines as they walked to the door, they were still a tad dizzy from earlier and had temporarily forgotten how to open the door the need to eat fresh meat too great that Carmine punched the door off its hinges not knowing he added a subtle hint of Biotic power to the punch sending the door flying and embedding it into the end of the wall.

The noise startled everyone as many of the Cerberus crew watched in awe as Clay and Sam made their way to the cook, familiar blue clouds floated around the two the signs of Biotics. Even samara who was was having a nice conversation with Thane noticed the two and even she almost felt compelled to steer clear of the two new Biotics. The power oozing off of them if properly trained could possibly outshine her own biotic capabilities as well as destroy any Asari stupid enough to take on the gears. In her mind they might as well have been a cross between all the species of their galaxy only much much stronger, many of the women in the crew were beginning to drool seeing Carmine's body exposed the way it was the men however had to hide their own arousal under the tables or behind anything they could find as they had witnessed Sam's voluptuous body strut behind Carmine a sultry look about her almost made them faint.

"Bacon…." Was the only word whispered between the two as the cook set down two large plates filled with Eggs and Bacon in front of the two…Sam and Clay instantly dug into their food happy to finally have the one thing both of them wanted in all their time in the military, good food or in Clay's case BACON! They began to eat and eat even eating more than Cole and Baird surprising everyone. Grunt who was talking to Garrus about whose gun was bigger noticed his friend and what he called his mate or Sam eating and chuckled.

"Ha! Carmine and Sam eat even more than a Krogan does I'm actually impressed." Grunt said

"This isn't uncommon those who use Biotics burn a lot of Calories and judging from what I've learned from Cole they must have gone through tons of Calories and are simply eating what they lost." Samara commented calmly; however the chat was short lived as the elevator doors opening caught their attention.

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Crew deck/med bay present time

Everyone was shocked including Grunt and Garrus who was having a hard time believing he was seeing this much female flesh exposed to him…he was almost certain at this point that any suicide mission was worth it if he got to be around half naked women on a daily basis. Before them was shepard bare foot with an annoyed look on her face wearing no pants a long T-shirt that was obviously carmines as it was large enough to hang off her shoulders and stopped just above her breasts making shepard at this point the wet dream of every male on the ship with the exception of Zaeed and Grunt. Walking over to Carmine Shepard turned him around and gave him a look over checking to see if everything was okay with him. Although Clay was a little ticked she stopped him from enjoying his beloved bacon he let it go since it was shepard doing it, once her inspection was done however she immediately wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly. He hugged her back causing Sam to smile, she wasn't jealous of Shepard hugging Carmine even though she was only wearing a shirt since she knew Carmine and Shepard saw each other as brother and sister. She was actually surprised they even began to call themselves by the terms…she simply smiled and returned to her food.

"You had me worried sick you big dork." Shepard said nuzzling herself against Carmine's chest as he stroked her short blond hair.

"Hey come on now squirt Im just too tough to die…besides what kind of brother would I be if I left you alone like that huh?" He said smiling warmly at her, and he meant it…he may have failed to protect his brothers Anthony and Benjamin but he was not going to fail his little sister.

"Hey don't worry about it commander Carmine here took a sniper bullet to the face and still didn't die." Cole chuckled however his little comment broke the happy mood as Shepard gave him an annoyed glare walking over to him her hands on her hips. Cole was about to question what she was staring at until she slapped him across his head with an audible sound.

"Ow hey…"

"That is for knocking me out."

"Geeze Im sorry…"

"Sigh its fine...Thanks though although your method of doing it was highly uncalled for and retarded…you did keep me from making things worse for me and my brother so thanks." She said patting Cole's back. The cook set her a plate to eat as she sat down next to Carmine as Sam sat on his other side and the three ate peacefully, many of the guys were jealous of Carmine at how he earned the attention of two beautiful women even if one of them was his new sister. The women were annoyed that Sam beat them to Carmine as they were foaming at the mouth wanting to bed the man, the sexual tension rising from the Cerberus crew was so thick one could cut it with a knife. But the trio didn't care tomorrow they wouldn't continue their mission to stop the collectors but today was just a rare day they could enjoy being together. For Clay and Shepard it was a rare moment for them as they felt more like a family than anything else and shepard for the first time since waking up back in a Cerberus base smiled a genuine smile happy to finally have a family to call her own. She was actually starting to consider adopting the Carmine family name into her own, Sam on the other hand was just happy to be with Clay and never forgot the deep kiss he gave her before she passed out back on illium. The woman still blushed but her feelings were now cemented as were Carmines, the two were in love with each other and as soon as they finished with the collectors Carmine knew exactly what he was going to say to her once it was all over. But for now he was happy to just enjoy the moment with his sister…his girlfriend and his oh so beloved bacon.

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**Alright guys sorry for the short chapter but with working over nights like I do for Homedepot I can only make updates when I can…so expect to see updates every other weekend. I was going to update my other story deadly six but Im out of time and im dead tired…so itll have to wait but for now I hope you enjoy this chapter despite how short it is and Ill be back with another chapter real soon. Please read and review **

**Icegod out**


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